My Devotion
by WrittenAnonymous
Summary: "Marry me!" I shouted, my voice piercing the silence of the night. "Marry me and I'll prove to you that I love you!" *HER EYES SEQUEL*
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**ATTENTION ATTENTION ATTENTION: ****This is a SEQUEL to a story I have already written. If you're interested in reading this story, I highly recommend reading the first story (Her Eyes) before reading this one! I'll try to make it easy for you to read only this story, but I can't really help it if you don't understand some parts. Thank you for reading. (: **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter One:**

**Scorpius Malfoy:**

I lazily traced the rim of my glass with my index finger, not really feeling in the mood to drink. Albus Potter and I had downed and entire keg of firewhisky the night before and I still felt hung over. Don't get me wrong, it was great to be able to pass out and sleep solidly for a good ten hours. But waking up was not something I had enjoyed at all, mainly because I had slept through the day since I had fallen asleep around seven in the morning. Then, to top it all off, I had woken up only an hour before Albus could convince me to come to the wizard nightclub that some cousin of his had started on Diagon Alley a few years prior. So here I was, still hung over and probably half asleep, with a cup of straight whisky in front of me. This was starting to get a little ridiculous.

I wasn't an alcoholic. I was just a lover of beer and wine and anything else that could get me in my fairly stupid state. But, I had sworn the moment I woke up that morning that I would not drink again… at least not obsessively. Not because I needed to better my health - that was already down the drain from all the muggle cigarettes I had smoked since I graduated Hogwarts - but because I needed to be in the right state for auror training. In less than twelve hours from that moment I'd be sitting in the classroom at the academy, getting lectured on how we were risking our lives and how if we couldn't take it to get out now. Statistics said that almost half of the incoming class of auror trainees would drop out within the first three months.

Though I had already fully committed myself to the academy, I had other commitments too. Albus Potter and I had another _huge _commitment that we couldn't forget, even if we wanted to. It wasn't an option to give up on it. There was someone after my family. Not just myself and my mother, but all of other purebloods in the wizarding world. Andre Shroudrouge was the culprit. I knew him as Alex Sherwood, and I couldn't seem to drop the habit of calling him by his alias… It was what I had know him as almost my entire life. Alex had been my dormitory mate and best friend since I was eleven years old, so when someone went after my ex-girlfriend to get to me our sixth year at Hogwarts, it never once crossed my mind that he was the one behind it all. He didn't just come after my girlfriend though. He murdered my father. Alex had killed my father for a reason even make sense. Well, in a way it did. But only if you were completely and utterly insane.

Alex was a muggleborn, as was his father, Jester Shroudrouge. They wanted revenge on the purebloods, and only purebloods, all because of one group of people. The Death Eaters that had killed his family and nearly half of his race.

After the second rising of the Dark Lord, most muggleborns mourned the losses of their family members before moving on with the rest of our world. They had no other option; what had happened had happened and there was no going back. The Death Eaters were put on trials, and most of them were sent to Azkaban or sentenced to death. My grandfather was sent to Azkaban and died of illness before I could ever get to know him. My grandmother was released only months before she died of old age and I never had the chance to become too attached to her. I had been at school when she was released, and she died before I got out for the summer. After the rising, my father had been lucky enough to be let free. After several trials, the Minister declared that my father was too young at the time of the uprising to have done anything. Which was true - my father was only sixteen and seventeen at the peak of Voldemort's return. He had no choice but to listen to what his father and mother were saying. It was the only way to keep himself and his family alive.

Unlike most muggleborns, Jester Shroudrouge was filled with so much sadness that it seemed to send him into insanity. Over the years it took my father to build our family's reputation back up to greatness, Jester was planning something that would ruin my life and my mother's life. He was planning the murder of my father. He conceived a son with a street-side whore, purely for the sake of having someone to do his dirty work. Nobody ever knew Jester had a son, and Alex had always said that his father was dead. As his son grew up into a man, Jester worked at the Ministry to gain my father's trust. My father didn't trust many people, but he fell into Jester's tricks. Jester had his son kill my father one night. The only reason he didn't do it himself was so he wouldn't - technically - be lying when the Ministry questioned him. He had accomplished what he was aiming for, and managed to keep it a secret for months.

But then he started to try to get to me. I had to hand it to him - he was smart. Jester waited until I was at my most vulnerable and weakest point. Where my anxiety from discovering my cold, dead father's body was at it's worst and I had found someone I was beginning to care more about than anything else in the world. My ex-girlfriend, Rose Weasley. One night I had heard Alex and Jester, who I didn't know were the murderers at the time, speaking about Rose. Jester asked Alex if Rose was important to me, and Alex answered yes. Then they started going after Rose to get to me. They started a pregnancy rumor - or I assumed they did, since I never thought to confirm my assumption once I had considered it - to bring us closer and then kidnapped her the night after I had told her I loved her for the first time.

Albus Potter, Dominique Weasley, and I had went after her after finding the horrifying proof that Alex was in fact the murderer. They had taken her to the mountains behind Hogwarts and brought her deep into the caves that not many people knew were there. They tortured her there and planned to kill her, but I had managed to save her with Albus's help. Aurors flooded the caves at the last minute and captured Jester. Alex got away and was still out there somewhere. We hadn't heard or seen any sign of him for two years. I couldn't help but hope that somehow her got himself killed… But I knew better. He was out there, waiting. He could strike at any moment, and in all honesty, now would be the perfect time.

Rose and I hadn't spoke since she broke up with me. I had no desire to speak to her, or even see her. She had broken my heart. Admitting it to myself was easy, but admitting it to my best friend, Albus Potter, was hard. It's not that I cared that he knew. But being myself, Scorpius Malfoy, hated to admit any type of weakness I was experiencing. But I felt like I owed it to him, since Rose was his cousin. Though Albus told me that it didn't matter that his cousin and I weren't together anymore, I _had _to tell him when I was with his cousin I truly did care about her more than anything else in the world, and that even though I didn't show emotion about it, it didn't mean I didn't care. I had completely shut myself off from everything and everyone for months. Nearly all of my seventh year, actually. But I finally came around, and had that talk with Albus. He had told me right after Rose and I broke up that the circumstances had changed and that he'd still be my friend. The original circumstances were we were only alliances to protect Rose from Alex and Jester, but along the way he became my best mate. Even though he could be stupid and arrogant sometimes, the two of us balanced each other out. Which is why we were now flat mates and about to start the academy all aurors in training went to as each other's second. Being someone's second meant to be someone's fighting partner. Albus had become my brother over the two years we had spent as best friends. It was strange, since we had been enemies our entire life, but it felt nice to have someone I could trust again.

"Hey, mate," a voice slurred at my right. I looked over to see no one other than Albus Potter. He was already drunk. "You see that girl over there?" he asked, gesturing with his hand that had a cup of alcohol in it and slopping the liquid down his shirt and on some blonde girl's lap. "Shit," he garbled, grabbing a handful of napkins and shoving it on her lap, not seeming to realize that his hands were alarmingly close to her crotch. The girl looked appalled, but Albus paid no attention and turned back to me. "So you see that girl over there, right?" he asked. I looked across the room to see a brunette girl talking to a boy who I recognized as Lyle Finnigan. He was in our year when we were at Hogwarts. The girl was attractive, obviously. Albus only went for the best. Her long hair fell to her lower back and her porcelain skin seemed to glow. She was average height and seemed about average weight, if you cancelled out her breasts. Which were probably the reason Albus was attracted to her.

"Yeah," I answered dully, my head pounding from my lingering hangover. "I see her. What about her?"

"Do you think I have a chance?" he wondered, running a hand through his hair and getting this dazed look on his face. "You know what? Don't answer that. I'm just going to go talk to her. I mean… _who _is she?" He looked at me, his eyes incredulous. "She's a _goddess._"

I sighed, rolling my eyes, but I resisted the urge to snicker. "I don't know who she is. And I don't think I'd go up and call her a goddess… She might think you're just looking for sex. Go ask her name or something. I'm sure she'll tell you."

"I can't ask her name! She's talking to Lyle Finnigan. _Finnigan _for Merlin's sake!" He shook his head mournfully. "Do you even know where she came from? I never saw her at Hogwarts."

The girl that Albus had spilt his drink on earlier looked at him apprehensively, as if talking to him would get another drink spilled on her lap. "She's from the Salem Witch's Institute. She's American. We're interning in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement together. She has a thing going on with Finnigan, so I wouldn't try to cock block them. Which you seem to be so good at." She glared at him. "Fifth year, Potter. _Fifth. Year._"

"Oh for the love of Merlin," Albus said to the girl that he apparently knew. I had no clue who she was. "It was an accident! I didn't mean to go into the exact broom closet you and James were in! I was hiding from Filch, come on, you have to- Oh, shit." Suddenly, Albus's e eyes locked on something across the room. He completely forgot about what he was saying to the blonde girl and stared at me.

"What?" I asked, instantly alert. My eyes raking the crowd, expecting to see Alex standing amongst the people, a knife shining in his hand, his teeth gleaming menacingly as he smiled. That how I usually imagined him - with a knife and smiling evilly. Mainly because he and his father had had a trend of using only muggle weapons to kill or torture their prey to prove a point. Alex had killed my father with a knife and had held one to Rose's throat at one time while we were in the caves.

But it wasn't Alex, and I could see that right away.

"Rose and Dominique are here," Albus said unnecessarily. "And they're with the Scamander twins."

…

Having my body rubbed against by sweaty girls usually completely satisfied me, just not when they were dancing like strippers and there was about twenty of them trying to grind all over me. And definitely not when Albus was dragging me through the crowd of whores toward my ex-girlfriend and her best friend who I thought I was friends with, but wasn't sure since I hadn't spoken to her since the last day of our seventh year. Which was just us saying goodbye to each other. I didn't know why I was letting Albus drag me toward the person I dreaded most next to Alex. Maybe because I was curious to see why she was back to hanging out with Lysander Scamander. Or maybe it was because I was just stupid.

Once the two of us were within hearing distance of the four people, my survival instincts seemed to kick in and my mind was shouting: _Get out, get out, get out! Are you completely mental? LEAVE!_

But there was no going back now, because we were now standing directly in front of them and Albus had already opened his big, drunk mouth. "Rosie! How are you, darling? Well, I'd hope? Listen to your old cousin Albus." Albus squeezed his way between Rose and Lysander and threw his arm across Rose's. Rose's eyes were wide in disbelief as she stared at Albus, who was much too drunk for his own good. "Listen," Albus said again. "What d'you say we get a round of shots… C'mon, then. Shots."

I was trying to avoid eye contact with Rose, so I turned to Dominique, who was twisting a strand of hair through her fingers nervously, obviously a little unsure of what was going to happen with all of us in such close proximity once more. Once Albus and I had decided we'd stay friends, we hadn't really been around Rose and Dominique that much. One, because I refused to, and two, because Albus and I were using our newly found friendship to cause trouble around Hogwarts. We felt that it made up for the six years that we had missed. "Hey, Dominique," I said, trying my best to smile at her. It was a little hard with Albus shouting that I would have to buy the shots because his dad had cut him off for the rest of the week.

Dominique smiled tentatively. "Hello, Scorpius."

I looked at the person standing next to Dominique and recognized him as Lorcan Scamander, Lysander's twin brother. He was not like his brother at all. He seemed to always have this dreamy look in his eyes and you could never make eye contact with him, even if you wanted to; he was always staring off into space. Lorcan never really said much, but when he did, it was weird things that you couldn't understand at all, even if you tried.

"I see your company has changed since we've last spoken?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. The last time I had checked, Dominique had been sneaking around with one of our old teachers at Hogwarts. River Connolly, or as Albus and I called him, Connolly the River. It didn't really make much sense. We were just drunk one night and Connolly found us behind a staircase and tried to make us go back to our dormitory. We persuaded him to stay and have a drink - which he did - and we started calling him Connolly the River. It was stupid, but Albus and I were both stupid drunks. But anyway, Dominique and River seemed to be quite serious for awhile. He had even resigned from Hogwarts once she had graduated. I didn't know what happened, and I was a little nervous to find out. Dominique did… drastic things if something went wrong.

"Oh," Dominique said, trying to wave it off casually. I could see through it, though. "He and I just grew apart. But I'm sure he'll be happy to see you… He's one of the instructors at the academy now."

"Oh, really-" I started, but Albus had grabbed my forearm and began leading me toward a table and a six chairs in the corner of the club. Oh Merlin. He was so drunk he didn't know what he was doing. It happened a lot, so I knew he wasn't trying to send me into my own personal hell, but I couldn't help but want to punch him in the face. But I didn't want to look like a horrible person in front of Rose. Even though I had lost all respect for her, since she hadn't even bothered talking to me to let me know the real reason she broke up with me, that didn't mean I didn't care how I looked around her. That made me all the more mad at Albus. At least I could live with the satisfaction that he was going to feel completely _horrible _in the morning.

Once we got to the chairs, he shoved me down into a seat and flopped down in the one next to me. Dominique took a seat in the other chair next to me. I couldn't tell if she was doing it for my sake or for Rose's - probably both since she knew that neither of us would want to sit next to each other. Everyone stared awkwardly at each other, aside from Rose and myself. I was looking at my lap and Rose was staring determinedly at the charmed flame that floated just inches about the table. One of the employees brought over a round of shots.

Albus downed his the moment it was set on the table, squinting his eyes shut and shaking his head once he was done. He looked at all of us expectantly and I cursed him for not going over and talking to the girl that he had seen earlier. If he had, we probably wouldn't be in that situation. But I was Scorpius Malfoy, and I was going to go along with it like nothing was wrong.

Shrugging nonchalantly and staring down my nose arrogantly at the people who sat around the table, I picked up the shot glass and tipped my head backwards, letting it flow into my mouth. The bitterness was comforting, even though it made me want to hurl all over everything.

Once I looked back at the people sitting around me, they seemed to finally try to push away the awkwardness and picked up the shots. Completely against my will, my eyes - which seemed to be acting on their own - turned to Rose. I watched as she regarded the shot apprehensively for a few moments before setting it back down. Apparently, she wasn't much of a drinker. But she did happen to be the most beautiful thing on this Earth… I wasn't ashamed to admit it. Rose's light, porcelain skin was flecked with freckles that made her so… "fucking adorable" as I would've called it when I was a teenager. But she wasn't just adorable, because her curves made her sexy. Her pouty lips reminded me of the heated makeout sessions the two of us would have. Her fire red hair, which was straight tonight, fell gracefully over her shoulders and down her back. I loved everything about her hair… I had touched it the many times we had made out back at Hogwarts. The only thing that was bothering me about it tonight was her fringe. It fell into her eyes, which was my favorite part about her.

They were light brown, but still had a brightness to them as if they were blue. I knew her eyes like the back of my hand. The darker ring of brown on the outside of the lighter, more beautiful chocolate brown in the middle. I knew what they looked like when she was sad, when she was angry, when she was jealous, when she happy, when she was surprised… anything. I could tell you just by looking at her eyes how she felt. Unless she was guarding them, like she was at that very moment. It killed me inside like it did every other time she covered up her emotions.

Rose, seeming to feel my gaze on her, turned her head to look at me. Once she did, you could tell she regretted it and hadn't meant to. The two of us looked away instantly, the signature Weasley blush appearing on her face, and patches of red appearing on the skin above my cheekbones. I brought my eyes right back to my lap and waited a moment before looking up through my lashes at her, hoping that she was still flustered. She wasn't. Well, not really, anyway. Now Rose was facing Lysander, who sat next to her. That wouldn't have been a big deal if he hadn't been pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear.

I clenched my teeth, waiting - and praying - for Rose to push his hand away. She didn't. She reached up and took it in hers. Lysander smiled at her and I could tell they were playing footsy under the table. Pure anger and jealous sped through my veins, just racing to get to my brain. Subconsciously I knew that as soon as it registered completely in my head, things would get ugly. Fast.

I cleared my throat quickly before scooting my chair back and standing up. I walked away jerkily, my back stiff and my hands balled into fists at my side. I knew I had made a scene, and I knew that everyone at the table was looking at me as I walked away, but I couldn't find it in myself to care. I had to get out of there. That's all I was concerned about at that moment. I would face my emotions later - I just had to get out of that club before I was forced to face them there.

I didn't want to go through the front doors where the bouncers were letting people in, so I found the backdoor that led to the alleyway behind the club. Shoving the door open, I stepped outside and inhaled a huge gust of the crisp, fall air. It was just beginning to rain, making it a lot colder than it should have been in September.

My hands began to shake as I pulled out my pack of cigarettes and book of matches. I could have used my wand, but I wasn't thinking straight. I held a cigarette between my lips as my fingers fumbled frantically to light the match. My fingers shook so much that I dropped the book of matches in a puddle at me feet. I swore loudly before kicking at the ground like an angry child.

I yelled angrily once more before grasping at my hair and tugging at the roots. I had finally started to get over her just weeks prior to that day. _Finally, _after two entire years of having to watch her walk around Hogwarts and then at the Ministry at the required year of interning all pre-aurors had to participate in before actually starting training. Two years of not being able to hold her hand or touch her hair or kiss her lips. Two years of not even being able to talk to her. I would give anything just to do _that. _Just to have a civil conversation with her.

Stupid Albus and his stupid drunk tendencies. If he hadn't gotten drunk he wouldn't have gotten me into this mess. I knew he didn't mean it, and I wasn't mad at him… But it was partly his fault. _Why _did he get completely incoherent when he was drunk? He knew I was just starting to get over her… Didn't that register in his brain?

Even though I wasn't mad at Albus, I was definitely mad at myself. I was so weak. What had just happened proved just how weak I really was. Just watching someone touch Rose the way I used to sent me spiraling out of control. I was a Malfoy. We weren't supposed to be like this. We were supposed to be tough and arrogant and not easy to please. And the majority of the time, I was that Malfoy… But when it came to Rose, I was the complete opposite. She had an influence over me that completely tore me apart. It horrified and pleased me all at once. It told me I was capable of loving and was capable of being someone different than who I thought I was my whole life… But it also was a constant reminder that it was very possible that I could never love a girl the way I loved Rose.

I clenched my teeth to keep myself from forming angry tears.

But then I completely exploded. Tears streamed from my eyes and I slammed my right fist against the brick wall of the building over and over again until my knuckles were dripping with blood. I leaned against the wall for a long time, not really thinking, just trying to cool down.

Finally, after what must have been half an hour, I turned around and began to walk in the direction of home.

**A/N:**

**Ooooh, Scorpius was a mess without you guys! Haha. Just kidding, obviously. I really liked writing this chapter… I had fun. I liked writing the slightly-matured Scorpius and how he's changed over the past two years. It gives me a fresh start on the characters. Albus was really drunk **-** he's a beyond stupid drunk. Don't hate him for pulling Scorp into that situation. You all know it had to happen. **

**I know Scorpius is acting like a little bitch. But he's in PAIN. He just saw that the love of his life had completely moved on **-** or has she? **-** when he was just starting to. He'll get better, though, I promise! (: **

**So Scorpius has formed some new habits and has given up on some old ones. Picked up on any knew habits? Noticed any of the old one are gone? Let me know in the reviews… Also let me know what you think of Albus and his "goddess". I want to know if you guys think Al should have someone too. I think it'd be cute, and I like subplots. **

**OH, I'm going to be switching perspectives a little in this, like I did with the last one. I don't know if I'll do Lily POV much, but do you guys want more Albus POV? Rose, or even Dominique? Let me know, I'm opened to doing one or two more.**

**Anything you predict that's coming up? Real reason Rose broke up with Scorpius? What you tink is going on with Dominique and River? How you think Lily is doing? Hmmm? Let me know! **

**Thanks so much for reviewing on the last chapter of Her Eyes! I promise not to disappoint you with this story!**

_**Reviews make Scorpius feel better! (: **_

**Written,**

**Anonymous;) **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Two:**

**Rose Weasley:**

These were the moments I needed him most.

My body shook uncontrollably and tears streamed unstoppably down my cheeks. I longed for his strong, protective, loving arms around my body. I was desperate for his low, quiet voice to tell me it would be alright and that he understood. Because he did. He understood better than anyone what was going on. He would be able to tell me why itwas still tormenting me. He would be able to tell me why I was still having these nightmares. And somehow, I knew - I just _knew _-that his mere presence would be able to stop them. Maybe not right away, but eventually.

I remembered exactly what he looked like. Not because I had seen him only hours prior to that moment, but because I knew his face better than I knew my own. His piercing gray eyes that could see into my mind just by looking into my own eyes. They seemed almost blue when the sun hit them just right, but if you paid very close attention, you could see that the blue was just an illusion and that they really were a glittering silver, that glinted like metal in the light. His soft lips were pale pink, so delicate compared to the rest of his pointed features. His cheek bones were sharp and narrow, making him look far more intimidating than he really was. Or… than he was to _me. _He could be terrifying when he wanted to be, but never once had I found him scary.

Then there was his hair. That shock of white that stuck up in a messy halo above his head was my favorite part of him… except for maybe his eyes. His hair reminded me of an angel, as cliché and horrible as it sounded. He had saved me so many times that I couldn't even think of him as anything _but _an angel. His pale skin and his nearly white hair and gorgeous gray eyes had changed my mental image of an angel. My original image was someone glowing gold, wings sprouting from their back. But now, when the word "angel" entered my mind, the first thing that popped up was an image of Scorpius Malfoy.

The man who I loved.

It was still strange admitting that to myself. I had never thought I would fall in love with someone that my family had told me to stay away from my entire life. But, I wasn't ashamed of it. He was the kindest, most beautiful person I had ever known, and the beauty wasn't just on the outside. Though some people were terrified of him and thought of him as a monster, I just thought of him as Scorpius. _My _Scorpius. Well… he wasn't mine anymore. I had broken up with him… It had killed me to do it, but I had no other choice.

The note that Alex had somehow managed to smuggle into my dormitory still haunted to this day…

"_Rose," Dominique said, placing a hand on my shoulder, attempting to get my attention. "I'm going to go down stairs and say goodbye to River… I'll meet you in the train, alright?" _

_I nodded, rolling my eyes. "Dominique," I said, smiling. "You don't have to keep treating me like I'm about to have a mental breakdown." Even though I said that, my thoughts were the complete opposite. Alex had done things… Things that I could barely admit to myself, let alone my best friend, or even Scorpius… It was horrible. Luckily, I was able to block them out of my mind most of the time. But sometimes, late at night, I would wake up with my entire body drenched in sweat and my screams muffled by my pillow. Dominique had no clue that she probably should be treating me gentler than she actually was… Thank Merlin I was good actress. _

"_Fine, fine… You know I'm just worried about you. I'll see you on the train." _

_Once she was gone, I finished folding my clothes and packed them neatly away in my trunk. I was still in my pajamas, so I needed to change into something presentable… especially since I was meeting Scorpius out in front of the school. I had picked out an outfit the night before, and thankfully, it wasn't crumpled from sitting in a heap on the floor all night. Pulling on my jeans and a scoop neck, tight-fitted t-shirt, I looked in the mirror. I looked… average. Sighing, I shook my head. There was nothing I could do. I wasn't going to dress up just to sit on a train all day, and I definitely wasn't going to tear apart my trunk to find something better to wear. _

_I sat down on the side of my bed and rolled up my too-long jeans so I could put my sneakers on. As I pulled the first shoe on, my foot touched something that it shouldn't have touched. For about five minutes after that, my shoe sat on my lap and I stared at it in terror. For some reason, I knew it had something to do with Alex. The night before I had taken off my sneakers and set them by my bedside… I hadn't put anything inside of them… and anyways, why would I? Taking a deep breath, I reached my hand in and pulled out a yellowy piece of parchment and cautiously unfolded it. _

_Even though I knew it was from Alex, I gasped when I saw his handwriting. _

Dear Rose,

I believe we have some unfinished business. You swore to leave Scorpius while we were in the caves. But from what I see, you haven't. Because I'm a kind, good-hearted person I'm going to give you a second chance. You know what I'm talking about. You and your family will be safe if you leave him. I might even spare Scorpius… at least for a little while. Harry Potter can't save the world this time, love. He doesn't know where I am or what I'm doing… And he has no way of knowing. Without an ability to have a connection to my brain as he did with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, he's just an average wizard. And you just have average protection.

Break it off with him, or a pureblood will die. And so will you and the rest of your family.

Don't think you can hide it from me if you don't… I'm watching.

Forever Yours,

A.W.S

_I had to reread the letter several times for it to actually register in my brain. I swallowed and stuffed the note in my pocket. Someone had been in my dormitory… Whether it was Alex or a spy he had managed to acquire, I didn't know. All I knew was that he had someone that could get to me… There was gap somewhere that allowed him to stay in contact with me. That gap also allowed him to threaten me, and quite possibly, harm my family. _

_I had to break up with Scorpius now. I didn't want to… It completely broke my heart to think about. But I had to. Not only to protect myself and my family, but to protect him and his mother as well. I prayed to Merlin that Alex "sparing" Scorpius meant that he would wait at least a year… Scorpius would have more training in the field of defense. Not that Scorpius wasn't a good wizard… he just wasn't thoroughly trained yet. _

_I stood up and kicked my trunk, running both of my hands through my hair. I was so _stupid! _Why I had I agreed to breakup with Scorpius? I was scared and violated. Alex had just done things to me that I couldn't even think about without wanting to vomit. I would have done anything to make him stop. He had taken away something so precious… Something that had seemed to have meant the world to Scorpius; it was the reason he wouldn't have sex with me. Scorpius wanted it to feel right, and he wanted that certain commitment to be there… But Alex had taken it. He had stole something that Scorpius should have taken. And it devastated me. Now I had to break up with Scorpius… It was the only way to keep everyone safe… At least for a little while._

_Oh, no. Oh no, oh no, oh no. _

_My mind was in full fledged panic mode. I tore around my dormitory, shoving every last thing that belonged to me in my trunk. Less than five minutes from that moment, I was standing in front of the school, waiting for Scorpius to meet me by the steps. I bounced on the balls of my feet, anxiety and sadness coursing through my body. I had to swallow back tears several times and calm myself down before I did something that I completely hated doing. I had to put my guard up. Scorpius could see into my mind just by looking into my eyes. I had to put that mental wall up that guarded my eyes from him. It killed him, I could see it whenever I was forced to do it. But I had to for his safety, my safety, and my family's safety. _

_I rubbed my eyes quickly as I saw him descending the stairs, hiding any trace of tears that may have formed. Scorpius was so sexy as he walked down the steps. His hair whipped in the wind and his smirk that was especially reserved for me - and only me - was on his face. He had several other smirks, but this one was mine. It was ever-so-cocky, but had a certain tenderness - the exact tenderness that made me fall in love with him - to it. _

"_Hey," he said, his low, soft voice hitting me like a ton of bricks. I loved his voice. I felt a lump form in my throat. I didn't want to do this… I couldn't… But I had to. I had no other choice. Scorpius continued speaking, oblivious to the emotions running wild in my brain. "Should we start making our way to the station or do you want to stick around here for awhile?"_

"_I guess we can stay here for awhile. There's not really a rush or anything," I answered after a moment, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear nervously as I saw him register the fact that my eyes were guarded. Brief panic flickered across his face, but he quickly covered it up. _

_Scorpius exhaled before saying, "Are you alright?" _

"_Yes!" I squeaked, biting my lip. "Why wouldn't I be?" It took everything for me not to break down right then and there. I hated myself for what I was about to do. I was going to break his heart, and not to mention my own. I was about to send us both spiraling down into misery. I would never be able to forgive myself. _

"_Because you're horrible at lying?" he suggested, his voice tinged with a bit of nervousness. "Just tell me." My heart sank even further into my chest as I stared into his eyes, resisting every urge in my body that was telling me just to forget the note that Alex had left in my shoe and to try and pretend that nothing had happened and that Scorpius and I could be together without any strings attached. _

_But I had to stay strong. I took a deep breath before saying, "You're not going to like it." _

_He seemed to be thinking very hard. I could tell because whenever he was thinking intently about something he would involuntarily bite down on the flesh of his cheek inside of his mouth and raise one eyebrow. I didn't think he knew that he did this, since he never actually tried to stop or even acknowledged that he was performing these habits. I thought it was adorable. He wondered how I knew when something was wrong, but his facial expressions - and his eyes, of course - gave everything away. I was going to miss him so much._

_It took him awhile to finally ask, "What is it?"_

_I clenched my teeth, feeling the lump form in my throat. "I think we need to talk." _

"_You're breaking up with me," he said flatly, his entire body going limp. I didn't know whether or not to be relieved that I didn't actually have to say out loud that I was breaking up with him or completely devastated at the fact that his face was now wiped of all emotion. I couldn't see what he was feeling. He had blocked me out like I had to him. It killed me. _

"_I'm sorry," I whispered, my mind racing for an excuse. I had to find something to tell him that would make sense, but not give anything away about the note… The only thing that came to my mind was not being able to be with him for commitment issues… I had once called him "flighty" so it wasn't that unrealistic that I was too… Finally, I said, "I just really, really need to work on myself. I'm too young to be jumping into anything like this. I'm so confused and…I don't know. I just _can't_. I really care about you, Scorpius. Please don't think I don't. I just really need to have time to decide how I want my life to go. We're going to be graduating soon and I need to discover what I'm planning on doing. I'm so sorry."_

_I turned to walk away, not because I wanted to, but because I didn't want him to see me cry. Not now, not over this… Especially if I was trying to act like it wasn't breaking my heart too. Suddenly, Scorpius's had whipped out and grabbed my wrist, spinning me back around with force that surprised me. "_Don't_ fucking tell me it's because you need to 'work on yourself,'" he growled, anger flashing in his eyes. More emotions too… Sadness, resentment… betrayal. "I saved your life. I deserve a better explanation than that." But now all of those emotions were gone again… He was a slate wiped clean of any feeling… Numb, he had once called it. I felt a sob form in my throat. I hated to be the one who caused him pain. "I saved your _life_. Give me the real, honest reason why you're doing this and I promise I'll leave you alone."_

_Tears sprung to my eyes and I whispered, "I'm so sorry, Scorpius."_

_I had to get out of there. Hastily picking my trunk back up, I hurried away from him. Once I was out of his line of sight, my entire body shook with sobs. I was at the Hogsmeade station by now. I couldn't walk anymore. I slid down the wall of the little hut that was beside the train tracks, my arms wrapped around myself, trying to hold it all together. People stared at me as they walked by, but I couldn't find it in myself to care._

_I had just broken his heart… and mine as well. I never thought that _I _would be the one to end our relationship… For some odd reason, I always thought it would be him._

I snapped myself out of the memory, my head reeling as it always did when I thought about our breakup and the reason behind it. Though thinking about Scorpius calmed me, I couldn't help but feel a certain sadness that always had me doubled over in sobs. Scorpius and I had been through so much together. He had saved my life, and to some extent, I had saved his. It's not like I was trying to sound like some hero or something, but I didn't really know where Scorpius would be or what he would be doing if there was no one there to help him through his anxiety and depression after his father's death… He had managed to pull through it, with the help of me.

That's why I wished he was here now more than ever. I _knew _what I was going through was post-traumatic stress from the… events in the caves, but that didn't make it any less terrifying. The dreams were horrifying… They were like recordings that never wanted to give me a break… Alex doing all of those things to me, Alex hurting me, Alex taking what wasn't his to take… I shuddered violently, clenching my teeth as my stomach rolled with nausea.

Scorpius didn't know half of what happened in the caves… All he knew is that Alex had held a knife to my throat and had tortured me until I was screaming for mercy. He had no clue what happened before he got there. Part of me was glad that he didn't know. Scorpius did… _rash _things when he found out pieces of information that made him mad or hurt him in some way. But then the other half of me wanted to tell him. He was the only person who would understand why I was still being tortured by those memories every single night and every moment of the day that I wasn't distracted.

I rolled over in my bed, clutching a pillow tightly to my chest. The sun was just beginning to come up, which meant Dominique - my cousin, best friend, and flat mate - would be bursting into my room any moment. She and River had broken up, and even though she tried to stay strong, I knew she was hurting. She never told me _why _they had broken up, but when she would crawl into my bed early in the morning when she thought I was sleeping, I could tell that it was killing her inside. Though I felt like a terrible person for feeling this way, at least I had the comfort of knowing that I wasn't the only one hurting inside.

I let my eyes fall shut, praying for at least one hour of peaceful sleep. I would need it. Today was the start of auror training at the academy. I knew I would be exhausted from the actual training sessions, but I would also be tired from trying to avoid Scorpius.

Not that I really had to _try _to avoid him… He avoided me too. But it was still mentally draining to know that the man you loved didn't want to talk to you, let alone see you.

**A/N:**

**Good God. Rose is so WHINEY. It's annoying! BLALALDFASDJFKASDFASL. Sorry. I don't know how much RosePOV I'll have… Probably not much, just whenever I need her. Plus, you guys were begging for a sight into her mind… so there you go. Whiney and bitchy and complain-y. That's my version of Rose. Kind of reminds of Ron and Hermione mixed together. Way too stubborn and way too sensitive all mixed together… Sigh. **

**But I'm glad I could get this chapter out… The last time you heard directly from Rose's head was the first chapter of Her Eyes. You can see the way she looks at Scorpius and stuff. OH. And I never really noticed until JUST NOW that I've never really explained how I see Scorpius Malfoy… Like, how he looks. So you got that in this chapter too… But yeah.**

**Um…so sorry it took me like two weeks to get this out. I rewrote this shit like, four times. First it was Rose's perspective. Second it was Scorpius's perspective. Then it was Albus's perspective. Then I changed it to Rose's again. But anyway. I hoped you liked it. **

**Can I just say that the number of reviews on the FIRST CHAPTER was INSANE? Like, almost 80 I think! I loooove you all for it very very much! (: **

**Questions of this chapter that you can answer in the reviews if you want:**

**- What do you think Alex did to Rose in the caves? If it isn't obvious? Haha. **

**- Why do you think River and Dom broke up?**

**- What do you think will being Rose's and Scorpius's first encounter?**

**Okay. Thanks guys! I love you for liking my story! Can't wait to hear what you have to say about this chapter!**

_**Reviews make ScorpiusPOV in the next chapter! Yay! Because we don't like Rose! Yeah! (: **_

**Written,**

**Anonymous;) **


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Three:**

**Scorpius Malfoy:**

I hated this place. I hated it more than anywhere else in the world, but I couldn't seem to say goodbye to it completely. Not only because my mum still lived here, but because it was my childhood home. I had had so many great memories at the manor. I had lived here as I progressed from a child to a teenager, to a teenager to a young man. I couldn't seem to let go of it without feeling like I was letting of everything that I ever knew. All the birthdays, all the Christmases, all the Easters. Though I hated it, I still loved it. It was like looking at a gravestone of my life before now. Before my father's death and before Rose and I had broken up.

The large gates that opened to the dirt path that led to the doorway of the house were inviting and intimidating at the same time. I carefully unlocked the gates with the large key that my father had made for me, which only worked for me. The key would only unlock the gate if it was in my hands. My mother also had key that only worked for her, and before my father had died, he had had one also. It was purely precautionary, my father told me whenever I asked why. I didn't understand _why _we needed to be precautious until my father had told me that there would always be someone who thought of us as monsters… Always someone who resented us for some reason. He was right, as he often was.

I breathed heavily as I walked down the pathway, large shrubs on either side of it, seeming to make two walls that trapped me in. Large, open spaces made me anxious. I felt like was being watched, even though I probably wasn't. I had once had a dream, not long after Rose had broken up with me, that I was standing in a large field. No mountains around me, just green grass for miles and miles. Many people would have called it beautiful… But I called it terrifying. In the dream I had walked for what seemed like hours, and the grassy field continued on until I woke up. I didn't know what the dream had meant, but I think my mind was trying to get me to realize something. It had reoccurred several times, and every once in awhile, I would have the dream again. The last time it had happened it was the night Albus and I had moved into our flat, and it wasn't furnished yet. It was completely empty, but we had decided to sleep there anyways, just to get used to it. I had passed out in the living room, and Albus - declaring "I can sleep anywhere! It's our flat!"- had fallen asleep in the bathroom. I was woken up by Albus from the dream hours later, my entire body soaked with sweat from trying to run from who or what I thought was watching me.

The pathway seemed to stretch out for miles, but I finally got to the entrance of the manor. I unlocked the door with my key, and pushed it open. It was dark inside, which was no surprise. The house hadn't been lit since the night before my father died. The only thing lighting the house was the rising sun coming through the large bay window in the living room. Dust was still gathering on every surface, making the manor seem deserted. The only form of life downstairs were the several house elves who walked around in a sort of trance, not seeming to see me. No one had ordered them to clean the house, so they weren't doing it. I didn't bother to order them to do anything aside from make sure my mother was eating. I really didn't like house elves… They were creepy little things. I tried to have nothing to do with any of them, aside from my own house elf, Verney, who I had taken with me when I moved out.

I almost forgot why I came to the manor, since it looked so miserable and sad that I couldn't understand why _anyone _would want to come to this place. But then I told myself that I came to visit my mother. I had came to visit her twice a month once I had left, and every time her depression seemed to be getting worse and worse. It scared the hell out of me, but I couldn't do anything about it. She refused to get help, which made it all the more worse on me. I didn't know what was wrong with her. I knew she was depressed, but it seemed to be leading her to an illness that one could only categorize as insanity.

When I was upstairs I looked into my room. I had left half of my stuff there when I had left. My mattress still laid bare in the corner, stripped of sheets. My wardrobe drawers were still pulled out, barren of any clothing. My old school books were still strewn across the floor. It was strange, seeing how quickly I had seemed to pack everything up. I was in a hurry to get out of there, I knew that for a fact. But I never really thought that I was _that _desperate to leave.

I shook my head, already sick of staring at my old room. I crossed the hallway that led into my parent's bedroom, and pushed the door open as quietly as I could. My mum was sleeping. Her blonde hair was knotted on the crown of her head. Her eyes had purple circles under them and her lips were dry and chapped. Her fingers - so much like my own - clutched my father's old pillow. It was so weird. My father's bedside was always made perfectly, like it was never touched. Like my mum was _that _careful not to mess it up, like she was expecting him to come through the door at any moment. I clenched my teeth, resisting the urge to scream out in frustration. Why couldn't she move on? Why couldn't she do it for me? For her son who had made sure the house elves were making her eat. For her son who had blatantly lied to the Ministry, stating that she was fine and that no body needed to come out and make sure she was okay because she had screamed and yelled for me not to send anyone.

I decided I should probably check and see if the house elves had forced her to shower regularly, like I had asked them to the last time I had visited. I crossed the room and opened the door the master bathroom. To my surprise, a candle was lit in the bathroom and I was happy to find that the shower still had little flecks of water on the glass doors. Thank Merlin the house elves had her shower. At least I knew that she didn't just lay in bed all day and she was still capable of walking without crumpling to the floor in sadness.

My relief was quickly squashed by the feeling of complete abandonment as I walked past my mother and father's closet that was attached to the bathroom. It smelled so strongly of my father's scent that I had to grasp the door frame of the closet to keep myself from falling to my knees in agony. Pulling out my wand, I whispered hoarsely, "_Lumos!_" and its tip lit up, lighting the entire closet. My father's side of the closet was still untouched and perfectly organized. His suits were separated from his wizarding robes, and both were color coordinated to perfection.

I stumbled forward into the closet, my hands grasping desperately at his clothing, craving the oh-so-familiar smell of him. It was so comforting, yet so excruciating at the same time. I had a flashback of me falling off of my very first broomstick, and my father picking me up and carrying me into the house before putting potions on my cuts and telling me that every good Quidditch player got hurt, which made me feel tough and grown up. I had another flashback of my father hugging me goodbye the first time I left for Hogwarts. I remembered the last time I saw him alive before his death. It was the night he told me that there would always be people who thought of us as crazy, blood hungry monsters… It always seemed unsettlingly suspicious to me that the night before he died he had that conversation with me.

I shook my head, hating myself for losing it that easily. It had been months - nearly a year - since I let the memory of my father's death completely consume me. I was so disappointed in myself. I couldn't believe I let the influence of only his _smell _shoot me down like that. No wonder I was such a weak bastard now. I had to suck it up. I had to pull myself together. How I was I ever going to find Alex if I was too busy crying over my father's old clothes? How was I ever going to-

Suddenly, I saw something gleaming atop my mother's jewelry box that was right in the middle of the back wall of the closet. Forgetting everything I was thinking about, I slowly walked over to it. There, right on top of the jewelry box, was my father's old Malfoy family ring, and beneath it, there was an envelope… addressed to me.

Without thinking, I snatched the letter up as fast as I could and ripped the seal open, desperate for any form of contact that my father may have left for me before he died. I yanked the folded parchment out of the envelope and opened it. My father's handwriting was untidy and rushed, showing that he must have been running from someone… or _to _someone.

_Scorpius,_

_I'm so sorry. Please forgive me. I can't tell you what's going on, which I hate more than anything else, but I trust that you will or you have figured out what happened. I also trust that someday you will know that I was only trying to keep you and your mother safe, even if my efforts were wasted. I had to let what happened happen. I pray that someday you will forgive me. Take my ring as token of my confidence that someday you'll be able to fix what the Mafoys before you have done. I'm sorry this had to be left on your shoulders. _

_Remember what I've told you in the past, son. Always be on your guard. _

_Your forever loving father,_

_Draco Malfoy_

He died thinking I was mad at him.

Even though I thought about my father and his murderers a lot, I never took into consideration what my father felt like before he was killed. I had always thought about my emotions, not anybody else's when it came to my father's murder. He felt like I was going to be mad at him… He felt _guilty _for getting murdered. He was trying to protect my mother and me, and he felt guilty for not telling me that. It made me feel like a horrible son. He thought I would be mad at him for taking his life for us. That just shows what kind of son I proved myself to be. I reread the paper several times, allowing self-loathing to consume me.

I swallowed, carefully folding up the piece of parchment and putting it in the right pocket of my jeans. As I folded the paper, something hit me, snapping me out of feeling sorry for myself.

He knew he was going to be murdered. He _knew. _

My mind was reeling. How did he keep that a secret for however long he knew? How did he know that his death was slowly approaching, but could still keep his cool about it? How could he not be scared? That just proved to me that he was the bravest man I knew. My respect for my father grew - if possible - to a higher level.

My mind was just starting to delve deeper into my knew discovery when I heard, "Draco?"

I spun around, my fingers instantly picking up the ring and shoving it in my pocket. "Mum?" I asked in surprise as I saw my mother standing in the doorway of the closet, her frail body seeming even skinnier than the last time I saw it. _Wait. Did she just call me Draco? _"Mum, are you alright? Maybe you should go back to bed…"

"Draco, what are you doing home so late?" she whispered, her voice hoarse. "It's nearly midnight… Scorpius just left to find you…" Her eyes were glazed over and her hair stuck up in it's messy knot, making her look like a crazy woman.

Oh, no. She really _was _going insane. She thought it was the night of his death… She thought that he was still alive and that he was just having a late night at work. "Mum," I said cautiously, my voice gentle. "Mum, you need to get back into bed…"

"_Why are you so late?_" she shrieked, stumbling forward and shoving me against the wall with a force that did not go along with her weak appearance. I was in shock that my mother really was this crazy. Her breath smelled strongly of alcohol and with her _this _close to me, I could see that her lips twitched and that her glassy eyes seemed to be bulging out of her head. Suddenly, she laughed manically. "You were at the pub again, weren't you?" she demanded, her voice cracking. "What were you doing there?"

"Mum," I said desperately, "listen, I'm not dad… I…"

"_Stop lying to me, Draco!_" she screamed, her entire body trembling. "_Where have you been?_" My mum grasped at my shirt, shaking me. "Where have you been, Draco?" she asked again, her voice now eerily calm. "I want to know where you've been. Our son just left to find you… Our son is at the Ministry right now looking for you." Very slowly, she reached into her nightgown and pulled out her wand, the pointed it at me. "Tell me where you were, Draco."

"Mum, let go of me-" I said hoarsely, not removing my eyes from the tip of her wand.

"_Tell me where you were!_"

"If you don't let go of me, I'm going to have to hex you. Let go of me and I'll get you some help."

Suddenly, her fingers went slack and she crumpled to a heap on the floor, having passed out. I breathed a shaky sigh of relief. Though I was relieved, I was still freaked out beyond belief. My mum was actually going insane. Completely insane… She thought I was my father, which wouldn't have been a big deal if my father had been nineteen, almost twenty, when he died… But he wasn't. I had to get her some help… But I couldn't. Not now. I had to figure out what the hell my father knew about his murderers, but didn't tell anyone. The house elves would take care of my mum until I could get her some help. But all help would do was put her in an asylum at St. Mungos… And I didn't think that would make her any better.

After levitating her back to her bed and telling the house elves to keep a very close eye on her, I left. I apparated back to the flat where I found that Albus was still passed out on the couch from what I could only assume was from the crazy drunken night of fun before… _Fun for him, _I thought grudgingly, still not happy about his little stunt at the club in Diagon Alley.

I didn't have much time until I had to start getting ready for the first day of auror's training, so I took that time to examine the ring that I had always seen on my father's finger, but never really _looked _at. I sat on the edge of my bed, spinning it around in my fingers. It was a plain, silver ring, but on the inner part of the ring - the part that touched your finger when you wore it - there was an _M. _Just a single _M. _Not even my full last name. Though the ring was plain, and not that impressive, I stared at it as if it were what kept the world together. Before my father died, I knew that someday I would inherit the ring as my own, but once he was gone, I just assumed it was buried in the grave with him and I'd never see it again.

I slid it on my ring finger. My stomach plummeted as I realized it was a size too big. But then, as I stared at it in disappointment, I felt it adjusting to my finger. Now it fit perfectly. Not too loose, and not too snug. I could only speculate that it was another one of the Malfoy-Only objects. I guessed that if anyone other than the leading male in the Malfoy family put it on, it would automatically not fit. I took a deep breath as I stared at it.

It finally seemed to crash down on me that _I _was the only real Malfoy left. My mother was only one by marriage - she had no Malfoy blood to her. I was the only remaining Malfoy. It was up to me fix what my grandfathers and father before me had done.

And to be quite honest, it scared me to death.

**A/N:**

**Man. You guys have no clue how much fun that was to write. NO. CLUE. I pretty much just had to make it clear that Scorpius's mind isn't ONLY directed on Rose. That he's still pretty freaked out and depressed over his father's death, and that just because Rose broke up with him, he didn't completely forget about it. I kind of feel that I've made it so Scorpius's father's death still made a bigger impact on him than his break up with Rose… Which I prefer. I don't want the whole "Edward Cullen" vibe going on… You know, like, "I would DIE with out you. So I'm going to go kill myself in Italy because it's the only way to move on." Like. What. The. Fuck. No offense, Twilighters.**

**Sooo, yeah. Hope you liked reading it as much as I loved writing it. (: **

**You guys seem to spoil me with the reviews… But don't stop. Because I love it! **

**Any quotes that you liked? (Sorry, there wasn't really any funny ones in this chapter.) Any moments that you liked out of this? Predictions about Draco knowing who the murderers were and stuff? Anything else you'd like to point out? Let me know!**

_**Reviews make the first day at the academy FINALLY happen! (:**_

**Written,**

**Anonymous;)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Four:**

**Rose Weasley: **

He looked distraught. He was gnawing on the inner part of his cheek so hard that I was surprised there wasn't blood trickling out of his mouth. One eyebrow was raised as he stared intently down at his hands, which he was folding and unfolding nervously. There was something wrong, I knew that instantly. I could see that familiar glint in his eye. The tormented, forlorn glint that could only mean one thing… His father. My protective side toward Scorpius automatically turned on. I knew there was nothing I could protect him from, since his mind was what kept torturing him over and over and over again and I couldn't turn off that part of his mind… Though I wished it would go away, it would always be there.

I wondered if he was still having the dreams. When we were at our sixth year at Hogwarts, he suffered from post traumatic stress - almost the same form of post traumatic stress I was experiencing. He would experience dreams that were like recordings. Though mine were of memories of what happened in the caves, his were memories of him finding his father's corpse nearly ripped to shreds. The dreams eventually triggered anxiety attacks, which would send him running from nothing. I never really knew the dynamics of his anxiety, but I knew that it had bothered him for months.

Dominique elbowed me, sending me a look that said, _Pay attention! _

I snapped my head up to the front of the massive auditorium, where our new instructors were just beginning to talk about what we would be enduring here at the auror's academy. The main instructor, who went by the name of Furor Gust, had a loud booming voice that filled the entire room. Behind him stood several other instructors, and among them was River Connolly. I glanced at Dominique quickly, hoping that she was okay. Her teeth were clenched, as were her fists, but other than that, she seemed fine. River eyes kept darting over in our direction, but once he saw that I was staring at him, he averted his gaze and didn't look back.

There were at least five hundred trainees seated in the auditorium. I recognized quite a few people, but the majority of them I assumed were foreign exchange students. Scorpius and Albus sat three rows in front of Dominique and me. The two of them sat in a group of rowdy boys that I knew very well. Well… not personally. During our seventh year, Scorpius and Albus had formed a posse. Their posse were just as arrogant, snarky, and obnoxious as Albus and Scorpius could be, so when we were at school it wasn't uncommon to hear the group of boys shouting perverted things about girls to each other or yelling cuss words at one another.

I had a feeling that they didn't mean much to Scorpius. In the time I was close to Scorpius, I found that he didn't come to care about people very easily. I guessed that he just hung around them because it was easier than telling them to go away. This was something that I found very intriguing about Scorpius. The way he just didn't seem to care whether or not he had people around him made him very interesting. Though someone might think he would be lonely, he sure didn't show it. When I had first began getting close to him, it actually seemed like he preferred it that way.

"Welcome to Alastor Moody's Academy for Aurors," Furor Gust boomed, holding his hands out in greeting. "You will experience trials unlike you've never imagined, and you'll fail worse than you have in your worst nightmares." Some people laughed nervously, but quickly shut their mouths once they realized Furor was being completely serious. "Though your time here will be challenging, it will be rewarding in the end. Sadly, the majority of you won't even be able to make it through the first month with us. Nearly half of you will drop out before your first semester is over.

"But then there will be certain few of you who will finish your training and protect our kind from harm. Your ranks will be determined after this year - your first year - is over. Your ranks will determine what you will train for your last two years with us. Though you may wish that you had a say in what you'll train for, you don't. All you get to decide is how hard you work and how willing you are to continue to work hard. Other than that, your future is in our hands. So be prepared to follow orders. If you are just not capable of that, I recommend you get up and leave now."

Furor Gust looked around the room, his lips pulling into a smile as nobody got up.

"Fantastic," he said. "Now, let me explain what you will be doing your first semester here. You will be learning hand-to-hand combat, like the muggles would do. There will be no wands allowed in the fighting, only your body. Girls, get ready to get your hands dirty. And boys, get ready to fight a girl.

Scorpius's head snapped up this, and I vaguely heard Albus whisper, appalled, "What the fuck?" Every boy in the room were mumbling uneasily at this point, exchanging uncomfortable glances with one another. Scorpius and Albus were talking with one another now, Albus being the loudest of the two, by saying, "I will not hit a girl. Merlin. I refuse." Scorpius nodded his head in agreement, his eyes flashing toward me. His back stiffened as he saw I was looking at him. I blushed ferociously, dropping my eyes down to my lap. I could still feel his gaze on my head. I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself. I looked back up after about ten seconds to see he wasn't looking at me anymore, and was running a hand through his hair. I took a moment to admire his fingers. It was weird, I know. But his fingers were so slim and gentle… They reminded me of a painter's fingers, so precise as they held a paint brush… Or even a musician, so nimble as they flew across a piano. His fingers were so-

Suddenly, something glinted on his finger. On his ring finger. I felt my the air rush out of me all at once as I saw the shiny silver band that seemed to fit his finger perfectly. The first coherent thought that entered my mind was: _He's engaged. _Then: _Do men even wear engagement rings? _Then: _Would he _seriously _do this to me? _

My stomach rolled with nausea as I continued to stare at the ring. When did he get a girlfriend? When did he have time to get a girlfriend? _Why _did he get a girlfriend? I clenched my teeth. I would not cry in front of all these people. I would _not. _I would go home and cry and then get over it. If I could. He was completely free to find someone he wanted to be with… We weren't together anymore. I had broken up with him, knowing that it wasn't unlikely for him to want to find someone else to spend time with. But… _married? _We were nineteen! I clenched my teeth, suddenly feeling angry rather than sad.

Fine. He was the one who was jumping into things. I bet he got a girl pregnant. Not my problem. It was his.

But then at the very thought of him possibly conceiving a child with someone else made the pain rush in once more, this time much stronger. If he was planning on marrying this girl because she was pregnant, that meant that I would _never _ever be able to be with him. Not that I would be able to anyways, with Alex after us and everything… But this just dropped the chances to below not possible, to completely and utterly and freakishly _impossible! _

"Boys, boys, boys!" Gust shouted, quieting everyone. "You do realize that a good amount of the dark wizards _are _females? You have to get over your phobias and be ready to fight! The girls are completely ready, aren't you girls?" The was a round of cheering from all of the overly-confident females in the room. "Good! Now… Your official training will start tomorrow. Boys meet in the boy locker rooms, girls meet in the girl locker rooms… You're uniforms will be in your lockers, which you can open by pointing your wand at them. Don't worry, you and _only _you will be able to open your lockers, as long as you have your wand. Thanks for coming to this little orientation… We're very glad to welcome you aboard!"

Gust said a few more words that I didn't hear because I was too busy trying to keep myself from shaking with sadness and anger. Dominique was speaking to me, but I didn't hear her either. I picked up my bag and hurried out of the auditorium, dying to get out of there. I couldn't stand to look at him… I was disgusted with him. He did realize that we still had Alex on our tail, right? He knew that he shouldn't be bringing anyone else into this, didn't he?

Then I was disgusted with _myself. _How could I even think that? I was trying to convince myself _I _was the one being the martyr… Like I was the one who was sacrificing my love life for this whole Alex situation… But the truth was I was still caught up on Scorpius. I couldn't picture myself with anyone else, and even though Lysander and I had a thing, he wasn't my official boyfriend. Scorpius _should _be happy. He should want to get married and maybe even have kids. But then thoughts from before reentered my head. He may _already _be a father… I knew as well as anyone else that he wasn't careful with who he had sex with.

A whole new round of pain began storming around in my brain and heart. I secretly thought that maybe - just maybe - he wouldn't have had sex with anyone else after we had broken up. It was a daft fantasy, because I knew Scorpius couldn't live without sex for long… But I couldn't help but hope. When the two of us were together, I could barely stand the thought of him and Fate Brown committing… adultery. It used to make me sick to my stomach, but that was nothing compared to how I felt now.

As I hurried out of the huge auditorium and into the massive hallway that led to the huge courtyard that separated the Ministry and the academy, I could hear someone calling my name. It sounded like Albus, but I didn't really care at that point. Albus knew I was having a hard time, but since he was Scorpius's flat mate I didn't really feel like I could talk to him about it anymore. It's not that I was against the two of them being flat mates, I was actually glad, but it did make me a little sad that Albus and I couldn't spend time together like we used to since Albus and Scorpius were _always _together. They had the ultimate bromance.

But finally, as I knew he would, Albus caught up with me. "What the hell is up with you?" he asked, grabbing my arm. "You look like you just saw a ghost." His black, too long hair stuck up all around his head and his fringe fell into his face, which was how I could tell he hadn't cut it in awhile. He looked like a crazy person. That's how I always saw Albus - as a crazy person, with his piercing green eyes and his pale skin and his insane hair. It was funny to me how different Scorpius and Albus were. They were almost the complete opposite. Albus had jet-black hair, Scorpius had shocking blonde hair. Albus had bright green eyes, Scorpius had bluish-gray eyes. Albus slouched his body in a confident, I'm-so-cool sort of way, when Scorpius held his shoulders high in an extremely arrogant, but incredibly sexy sort of way. And yet… they were best friends.

"I'm fine," I said innocently, looking at him concernedly. "Are _you_ okay?"

"Don't pull that shit," Albus said, cocking his head at me knowingly. "I've been watching you the entire time we were in the auditorium. You look like someone just died. Look, I'm sorry about last night… I was drunk, and you know how I get when I'm drunk. If that is what this is about, I feel horrible. Just…" He took a deep breath, and then begin talking really fast.

"I'm sorry I made things awkward again and Scorpius is probably really sorry that he stormed out like that, he just can't handle it with the whole Alex thing weighing down on his shoulders and then his mum being all weird and just… don't be mad at us okay?"

"It's fine," I said hastily, surprised at the part about Scorpius's mum. "Don't worry about it." At that moment I looked up to see Scorpius leaning against the wall near the entrance to the auditorium, examining that damn ring on his finger. As I looked up, he looked up at me. I looked away quickly, my face turning red for a second time that day. I didn't look to see what Scorpius's reaction was, but I could only assume it was pretty close to mine. "Look, Albus… I'm fine. Just…" I swallowed. "Don't worry about it."

"You said that already," he pointed out flatly. "Rose, I'm sick of this. We're best friends… We can't keep avoiding each other because of -" he dropped his voice lower "- what's between you and Scorpius. You and I can still be friends."

"I know," I said, sighing. "I'm just…" I stopped. "I know. I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

Albus rolled his eyes, looking at me like I was stupid. "You can come over you know. It's my flat too."

"But it's also his," I pointed out without thinking, but regretting it instantly.

He sighed, frustrated. "Whatever, Rose. When you want to talk, let me know. You know you can't avoid him forever. I'll see you tomorrow."

As he walked away, I shuddered at the hidden meaning behind his comment on how Scorpius and I couldn't avoid each other forever. I _knew _that. We couldn't avoid each other forever because eventually the two of us would have to face Alex together. Alex had never told me directly that I would be involved even if I did break up with Scorpius, but it was implied. I couldn't see it any other way, and apparently, neither could Alex.

I watched as Albus went back over to Scorpius, and then as the two of them walked away, laughing about something one of them had said. I clenched my teeth, willing myself not to cry. Scorpius had taken my heart… But now my best friend too?

**A/N:**

**Kinda short… I dunno. It's about 500 words less than my usual chapters. Oh well. I liked how I ended it. I had an alternate ending with Rose going to see Hermione, but I can't write Hermione for shit…so. I rewrote it. Haha.**

**I liked how this chapter turned out… Yes, Rose is a little ignorant, (Most men don't wear engagement rings, she didn't just **_**ask **_**Albus if Scorpius was getting married), but she gets it from her dad. Haha. **

**Anyway. I have something to ask you guys. I don't want to come across as one of those stereotypical Fanfiction writer, even though I am a stereotypical Fanfiction writer… But I was wondering if you guys would want to see how I think the characters would look? I mean, you don't really have to look at the pictures since I'd be posting them on my profile, but I dunno. Thought it'd be interesting. Let me know.**

**So anyway. Favorite parts in this chapter? Quotes? Anything? Let me know in the reviews! **

**OH, song lyrics will start up soon. I wasn't as consistent with them in Her Eyes than I was with the story I wrote this summer, but I want to start posting them with the chapters again… I like it. (: **

**OH, one more thing…I'm probably going to start writing a story with stories that I made up myself on my fictionpress, so if you want to start looking out for that you can find the link on my profile. I'll let you know in A/Ns too. **

_**Reviews make the first REAL speaking-like-actual-Rose-and-Scorpius encounter occur soon! I just don't want to go too fast…that's one of my biggest fears when I'm writing!**__**Am I moving too fast? Let me know!**_

**Written,**

**Anonymous;) **


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Five:**

**Scorpius Malfoy: **

"Welcome, welcome…" Furor Gust shouted, his voice echoing around the massive gymnasium. "I see that you've found your uniforms. I do hope that they are satisfactory…" They _were _satisfactory, if we were attending gym class in muggle secondary school. The boys wore black, baggy nylon shorts that went about three inches past our knees and a gray cotton shirt with the Ministry of Magic's crest printed in black on the upper right. Girls wore black cotton shorts that were tighter - and shorter - than ours, along with a gray close-fitting cotton t-shirt with the crest printed on the right side. "You all look fabulous." He looked around at the already-formed cliques in the crowd.

I would say the cliques were ridiculous, but then I'd have to call myself a hypocrite. Mine and Albus's "posse," as Headmistress McGonagall had called it when we were in our seventh year at Hogwarts, was the first clique to reform when he had first showed up for training. Of course, not every single member of our group had decided to be aurors, but the majority of them had. There were six of us, including Albus and myself. The other four were Reece Longbottom, Henry Flint, Harley Thomas, and Jayden - or Jay - Bones. The moment we had stepped into the auditorium for the orientation speech the day before, the six of us were just as we were in our seventh year, joking and laughing and making fun of each other.

It was strange how our group came to be. Albus and I were never people for friends, really. Albus had his family and usually that was enough for him. I had myself and my sex buddies and usually that was enough for me. But once Albus and I had become the "unstoppable pair," as many of the professors called it at Hogwarts, it's like we had people being drawn to us. Our group formed and there was no going back. But it was different for me than it was for Albus. I could care less if they were around or not. It's not like I didn't like them; I was actually pretty fond of them, it's just I didn't really care. I hadn't had _real _friends my entire life… Why would I need them now? But Albus was different. They were _real _friends to him. They were his mates or "bros" or whatever people were calling their friends these days.

"Quiet down, please!" Gust boomed. "_QUIET!_"

Finally, after several more demands from Gust to shut up, everyone was quiet. Before Gust began talking again, I let my eyes wander around the gymnasium. Naturally, I found Rose in the crowd. She looked so sexy in her uniform. It kind of made me angry when I realized that _I _wasn't the only person checking her out. Lysander Scamander, who stood about ten feet behind her was staring at her ass with wide eyes. I clenched my fists, angry for two reasons. One, I had broken my rule of not cussing. I had found that I had been doing it _way _too often… It just needed to stop, but I didn't know if I'd be able to. The second reason I was angry was the obvious - Lysander had more of a chance to actually see her up close in her uniform because, apparently, they had a "thing" going on.

"Whoa, mate," Albus whispered, glancing up at Gust as he began shouting the introduction for the day. "Calm down."

I took a deep breath and nodded. Albus was right. She wasn't mine anymore. I had no right to be angry that her somewhat-boyfriend was staring at her with those eyes. But, I _did _have the right to be angry with myself that I was still looking at her with those eyes. I had finally moved on… And then, after that night in the club, just being in the presence of her had me falling all over her. Just that one look we exchanged had me in love with her all over again. I mentally shook myself. _Shut up, Scorpius, _I thought. _Stop doing this to yourself. _

"Okay," Gust said, grinning around at all of us. "We're officially starting training today. But before we start, we need to establish just a few small things… So, for the rest of training today, I'm handing off the spotlight to Maverick Hawk."

Maverick Hawk then, well, _swooped _onto the platform that Gust was standing on. He instantly set me on edge, for some reason. Maybe it was the way he looked. He had shoulder length jet black hair that was tied at the nape of his neck and unsettling dark brown eyes. Hawk had sharp, pointed facial features, and a tall, skinny build. I had never heard of Maverick Hawk, so I assumed he was a half blood or a muggle born. My instant impression was that he looked like Alex. The only difference were their eyes.

"First, we'll put you into your squadrons," Hawk began briskly, "You will be put into groups of six. Yourself, your second, and four other people. Before we put you into your groups, please, if you would, stand next to your seconds." Albus and I instantly closed the meter gap between us. Albus and I had agreed that we would be each other's second months before training had even started. Not because we were best friends, but because we really had no other choice. There was no one else we could trust with the Alex situation going on. The only other people we could really trust as our seconds would be Rose and Dominique, and obviously, that wasn't an option.

"Good," Hawk praised. "Now, when you filled out the registration forms for the Academy, you filled out who your seconds were. As soon as you turned those forms in, you were magically bonded to your second. It's not permanent," he added, "not yet, anyways. Now, listen very closely. The magical bond between your second and yourself will not break unless Furor or myself take it off of you or if one of you is killed." An uneasy silenced filled the room. I glanced over at Rose, who was standing next to Dominique… looking at me. Quickly running a hand through my hair, I turned around, feeling a flush color my cheeks. "Not likely, since you're just training now," Hawk continued, "but it's not impossible. The reasoning for binding you to your second was to teach trust. The majority of you have chosen your best friends as your second, and the binding is testing you. This could make the two of you inseparable or it could turn the two of you against each other. I can almost guarantee that the majority of you will be faced with the latter." Hawk took a breath before looking around at all of us and continuing. "Now that you've committed yourself to the profession as an auror, you are in danger. Anything could happen at _any given moment._" His eyes lingered on Albus and I for a moment too long, instantly sending my mind into warning mode.

I exchanged a quick glance with Albus. I could tell that his mind was now racing. If I wasn't so suspicious, I probably would have laughed at how fast Albus switched from idiot-prick mode to auror mode. But right now wasn't the time to laugh… Right now was the time to do some investigating, but it would be a little strange if Albus and I both bolted out of the gymnasium… Plus, I felt a little obligated to let Dominique know about what happened before Albus and I did anything. She was just as involved as Albus and I were with the Alex situation. _So is Rose, _a nasty little voice reminded me.

"So," Hawk said, "let's get you into your squadrons."

He began barking out names. As he did this, Albus and I began talking. "What the hell was that?" Albus asked, glancing back up at Hawk. "You saw that too, right? My mind isn't just fucking with me?" He looked seriously freaked out, so I knew I wasn't the only one.

"No, mate," I answered, also looking back up at Hawk. "I saw it too. You don't think…?"

"I don't know… But I think we should talk to Teddy. Or River. See if they know him, because I sure as hell don't. It's like he came out of no where. Even after all of those damn dinner parties my dad throws, and not once have I ever seen or heard of anyone with the last name Hawk."

"What the _hell _was that?" a feminine, familiar voice cut in. "You did see that right?"

_Dominique doesn't miss out on anything, _I thought tiredly.

"Yeah," I said, "we saw it." As I looked up at her, I froze. Rose was standing _right beside her. _Her hair framed her face as she stared down at her sneakers. There was a moment of silence between the four of us, all of us obviously unsure of what to say at the sudden re-gathering of our old group. Flashbacks tumbled into my head… All four of us fighting Alex and Shroudrouge behind Hogwarts… Albus, Dominique, and I on our frantic mission to save Rose… Everything. I momentarily had the breath sucked out of me at the realization of how much everything had changed since our sixth year at Hogwarts.

"He looked at you, almost like he was trying to threaten you!" Dominique exclaimed.

"Thanks for voicing the obvious, Dom," Albus snapped. "Listen. We can't talk about this here. Someone will hear us and they'll get suspicious… Plus, if Hawk really was trying to get a message across, he probably knows that the four of us worked together to figure out who Alex really is. But we _do _need to do some investigating on Hawk. And… evaluate our situation. Meet us at our flat around five tonight, alright? Don't mention anything to anyone."

Then, suddenly, Hawk's voice cut through the crowd of people. "Scorpius Malfoy, Albus Potter, Dominique Weasley, Rose Weasley, and Tempest Turpin, you will be a squadron. Your instructor will be River Connolly."

Dominique's face paled and she looked at Rose, who's head snapped up. I looked at Albus, who was looking at me, his eyes wide. Now I definitely knew there was something going on. What was the likeliness that all four of us managed to _randomly _get put in a group together? With Connolly, who hadn't tried to hide from the Ministry that he and Teddy had sort of helped us with the Alex situation?

Slowly, the four of us walked up to the front, where we found Connolly. He didn't look surprised in the slightest - just very, very awkward. Next to him, was who I assumed was Tempest Turpin. Despite the circumstances, I almost burst out laughing. I recognized who she was instantly. Tempest Turpin was the closest thing to a living Moaning Myrtle. Nobody ever paid attention to her when we were at Hogwarts because nobody wanted to listen to her negativity. She complained about having no friends, when she was the one pushing them away. She was so… _weird. _I had no idea she wanted to be an auror. Her big blue eyes were hidden behind ridiculously thick glasses. Her frizzy mousy-blonde hair stuck up all around her face and her acne was enough to make someone want to vomit.

"Hey, Riv," Albus said, slinging his arm across River's shoulder, oblivious to Tempest, which surprised me. I knew that back in the earlier days at Hogwarts, Albus made fun of Tempest like she was scum on the ground. "Notice anything… _strange _about old Hawk's introduction?"

River still looked extremely uncomfortable. It's not like none of us knew why. River obviously thought that the out of at least five hundred auror trainees, he wouldn't be stuck with Dominique as one of his trainees. Dominique seemed to have thought the same thing. She looked like she was about to break down crying right there. I didn't blame them for hoping that. I hoped that I wouldn't be stuck with Rose… And here I was. Stuck with her, resisting the urge to look at her and see what emotions were playing across her face at that very moment.

"No," River said, confused. "Why would I have noticed something strange?"

"No reason," Albus said. "No reason at- _Hey! _I know you!" Finally, Albus seemed to have registered that Tempest was standing right in front of him. "You're… Tempest Turpin, right? The Tempered Turpin?" Everyone looked confused. Nobody had ever called Tempest _The_ _Tempered Turpin. _"Wow, I haven't seen you since third year… Whatever happened to you?"

"Albus," I said under my breath, elbowing him. "_Shut. Up._" He was making a complete prick of himself. I remember at the graduation ceremony at Hogwarts, Tempest _was _there, so she hadn't left. Albus could be so ignorant sometimes, it disgusted me. I laughed awkwardly, attempting to save Albus from getting smacked across the face and turned toward Tempest. "I'm Scorpius Malfoy. And this is Albus Potter, if he hasn't made that obvious."

"I know who you are," Tempest said stiffly. "And frankly, I don't care."

I blinked. I hadn't remembered her being such a-

"Damn, I don't remember you being such a bitch, Tempest," Albus said, echoing my thoughts exactly. Merlin… How did he do that? "Anyways," he said, grinning at her, "I never knew that you wanted to be an auror… What brought that on?"

If looks could kill, Albus was be dead on the floor. Tempest's teeth were clenched as she stared at Albus, her hands balled up into fists. Abruptly, she turned to River, "Coach Connolly, is there any possible way I could switch to a different squadron? I can't be in this-"

"I'm sorry, Tempest, but I'm afraid that there is no other openings," River said, shaking his head. "If there was any way I could help you switch, I would." River took a deep breath before turning to all of us. "Alright," he said, "so, I'm hoping that the lot of you have gathered that I will be your coach until the end of second term. After that, you'll be ranked and put with potential aurors more like yourself and have a different coach. But as for right now, you'll come to me with any questions you have about training and any of your assignments that you may have."

He continued talking, but I tuned in and out. I was still distracted by the strange looked Hawk gave me and Albus. It was so strange. Part of me wanted to believe that I was just making something out of nothing, but the other part of me wanted to believe that this _was _something. Even though I was scared, well, shitless of what Alex was going to do next, I couldn't help but want something to happen so I could figure out what he was up to all of this time.

He had to be planning something… Something _big. _That was the only explanation for why he had tried to do anything at all. But from what Alex had done back at Hogwarts, I hadn't known he was doing anything until the day Rose was taken. He hadn't really done anything except plant a few attacks on me and the others. What if he had someone spying on us? My back stiffened at the thought of this. The spy, if he had one, could be in the very room… Watching all of us converse. Watching me… Watching _Rose. _

I resisted the urge to step closer to her, to put my arm around her waist. It wasn't my place to do that anymore. But I couldn't help but want to find someway to tell her to watch her back… Of course, she already knew that she needed to do that, but I would feel better if I could tell her. I didn't know if it was just because I wanted to talk to her or if my intuition was kicking in. My intuition was usually right, and for some reason, I felt like someone was watching her… Someone in the room. I couldn't identify who or where, but I felt like someone in league with Alex was about to strike.

Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow… But soon.

**A/N:**

**I. AM. SO. SORRY.**

**Writers block hit me hard with this chapter… It literally took me from the night I posted the last chapter to today to get this chapter out. I rewrote it, I switched perspectives, I rewrote it again… but I finally got it out. And I'm pretty happy with it, actually. **

**So just know that I haven't given up on this story and that I'm definitely still working on it! I did have a few doubtful moments… But I'm fine now! Haha. **

**Any ideas, suspicions, predictions as to what's going to happen in upcoming chapters? **

**Next chapter will probably be Scorpius POV again, at their flat. Where they're all going to meet up and talk about Alex stuff. **

**So thanks to those of you who've been ever so patient and I love all of you a lot! **

**Quotes, moments, stuff that you liked from this chapter? Let me know! (:**

_**Reviews make the interaction between Rose and Scorpius at the flat… well… interaction-y! I can't give away everything… ;)**_

**Written,**

**Anonymous;)**__


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically

about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading.

My Devotion

Chapter Six:

**Scorpius Malfoy: **

The flat was a mess. Albus and I hadn't bothered to try and unpack any of the left over boxes. When we needed something out of them we rummaged through them until we finally found what we wanted. Paper plates and plastic cups littered the counters and the floor. I had absolutely no time to clean the flat. I felt like a horrible host… And ex-boyfriend. Couldn't I have at least made the flat presentable before Rose got here? She and Dominique were going to be here in fifteen minutes!

I wanted to look like I cared enough to keep the flat clean. I wanted to look like a nice modern gentleman who made his bed and did the dishes and put the toilet seat down… _Speaking of which… _"Albus!" I shouted from the couch. No answer. "_Albus!_" No answer. "What the hell are you doing?" No answer. "Albus if you don't answer I'm going to tell Tempest Turpin that you're in love with her and want her to have your babies-"

"What do you want, asshole?" Albus asked, appearing in the entryway of the living room. His hair was wet, with soapy water dripping off the tips and he had a towel around his waist. "I was in the shower. Damn it, I can't do anything around here…"

"Can you put the toilet seat down?" I asked innocently.

"Why?" Albus asked, like my request morally offended him.

"Because your bathroom is the one the girls are going to use when they come over in fifteen minutes. I'm not joking, Albus. I don't want us to look like _complete _pigs."

Albus looked around our flat, his arms gesturing wildly all around. "You're concerned about our _cleanliness?_" he asked, incredulous. "I hate to break it to you, mate, but our flat looks like the inside of a garbage can with our shitty couch and horrible rug. Not to mention all of the fucking trash laying all around-"

"I get it!" I snapped. "All I'm saying, is that they'd probably much rather sit on our _shitty _couch than fall into _your _toilet! Just… put the seat down. Please." I rubbed my eyes, not being able to stop the smirk that slid onto my lips as Albus walked back down the hallway, grumbling about how it was a man's flat, and only a man's flat and that he didn't have to put the seat down. My smirk turned into a grin when I heard the porcelain hit porcelain and the shower start back up again. Idiot.

My smile slid off my face when the reality hit me that Rose really _was _coming over and she really _was _going to see my flat like this. I jumped up and began frantically running the kitchen and living room area of the flat, my hands picking up trash and then setting it down, unsure of what to do with it. Finally, I just began throwing it in the laundry room, which was attached to the kitchen. I was _not _going to get this done by the time they got here. "_Verney!_" I shouted, and almost instantly, my little house elf appeared right in front of me.

Verney was the house elf my father had declared mine on my fifteenth birthday. He was little, obviously, but unlike most house elves, he was… cute. He had big eyes and pencil-like nose and he always wore this potato sack bag. He was always so eager to help… He was like a pet to me. He lived with Albus and me, but I allowed him to do what he wanted the majority of the time. Sometimes I felt guilty for not letting him be completely free… But I also didn't know what I would do without Verney. "Master Scorpius!" he squeaked, looking around. "Oh, dear… It's a mess in here, Master Scorpius, a mess! This is why you should let Verney help, Master Scorpius, sir. This is repulsive."

I also kind of gave him the freedom of speech.

"I know, Verney, I know," I sighed. "Listen. I need your help… I don't ask you a lot and this is for-"

"Miss Rose?" Verney asked eagerly, his little eyes twinkling. "Is Master Scorpius trying to impress Miss Rose, sir?"

"Yes," I said quickly. "Now, if you could… Just throw all the trash into the laundry room."

So Verney and I began scrambling around the room, filling are arms with trash and then tossing it into the laundry room. Albus walked out of the shower a few minutes into our franticness, and grinned. He sat down on the couch and watched us clean, while he did absolutely nothing. Finally, the flat was free of trash… or visible trash anyways. The only thing left were the boxes, and I wasn't even going to try to find somewhere to hide those. "Alright," I said, taking a deep breath and staring at Albus. "Do you think they'll notice?"

"Not unless someone opens the laundry room door and are knocked down by the wave of trash," Albus said solemnly. I glared at him. He put his hands up in defense. "Hey, I'm cousins with them. I could care less what they think of our flat."

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.

"Shit…" I mumbled, nearly tripping over a box as I tried to make my way over to a mirror that was yet to be hung up on the wall. My face was flushed and my hair looked like a bird's nest. I tried feebly to make it lay flat, but I knew as well as anything that that just wasn't going to happen. I straightened my shirt with my hands and walked over to the door since Albus had made no move to get up and open it. Prick.

"Hey," Dominique said, her hair hitting me in the face as she pushed her way past me. I continued holding the door as Rose walked quietly into our flat, her familiar scent hitting me full force as she did. "Merlin," Dominique said, "what _died _in here? Which one of you is smoking?" She spun around and looked at me and Albus, her hands on her hips.

"Scorpius is guilty for that one," Albus said. "I know. It smells like ass. You should smell his bedroom. You can't walk in there with out getting lung cancer."

There was an extremely, and quite suddenly, awkward silence as the four of us stared at each other. It was broken by Dominique, of course.

"Well," she said, grinning. "Just like old times."

"Right," I mumbled, feeling like I was about to vomit. "_Just _like old times."

…

It hit me full force when I watched Rose sit next to Albus on the couch and pull her knees to her chest. I missed her so much that it hurt. I shouldn't have let her break up with me that day. I should have fallen to my knees and begged her to stay. I needed her. She still had no clue how much I needed her. Just watching her sit there, stare at her hands which were on top of her knees, I felt like leaping across the room and telling her that I couldn't stand it anymore. That I needed her to be _mine. _

"Alright," Albus said finally, leaning forward. "We need to do some evaluating." Dominique opened her mouth to speak, but Albus cut her off. "Shut up for a second, would you? Now… The last time the four of us spoke about the… situation together we were back at Hogwarts. If you ask me, we made a really huge fucking mistake. Now we're behind and we have no clue when or how Alex is going to strike. It could be through a person, like Hawk. Or it could be through something else… like a poison or a letter."

"So, really, anything in the entire world," Dominique said pointedly.

"All I'm saying," Albus said, glaring at her, "is that we have to look out for each other now… More than _ever._" He looked at me, and then at Rose."It wasn't just a coincidence that we were all placed in a squadron together. Something is up. I can feel it. We have someone watching us."

An eerie silence fell over the four of us.

"Just a few precautions that we need to take," Albus said heavily after a few moments. "We need to start the question thing again. You know, so we know that you're actually you and not someone who has drank polyjuice or something. Keep your wand on you, even when you're just walking around your flat. Don't mess with strangers," Albus said, widening his eyes at Dominique. "We don't want someone knocking us out in the middle of intercourse and taking us away to some unknown-"

"Why are you looking at _me?_" Dominique asked. "The one most likely to do that is _Scorpius. _No offense, Scorpius," she added hastily.

"Yes," Albus said, like I wasn't even there. "But Scorpius can look out for himself."

"You're saying I _can't?_" she asked, appalled. "Listen, Albus-"

"No, _you _listen, Dominique. You don't have to be here, alright? Scorpius and I could easily kick you out and not let you in on anything that is going on. So you either listen to us, or get out, because we're not dealing with your bullshit. This is _serious. _It's like we're fighting this war with blindfolds on. We have absolutely no clue what we're doing and who's facing us, and we have to be on our highest guard."

For once, Dominique was speechless.

"Thank you," Albus said, sighing, then running a hand through his hair. "Look, I don't mean to be a prick. I'm just looking out for us."

After a moment, Rose cleared her throat. Albus looked at her, and so did I, after a second of hesitation. When she began speaking, my heart throbbed painfully. "Dominique and I noticed something," she said softly, she looked up at me, and then at Albus. She held his gaze, obviously not comfortable staring at me when she spoke. I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek to keep myself from groaning. "Remember when Hawk said that the squadrons would have six people? Three sets of seconds? Well… Tempest Turpin doesn't have a second. I'm not saying that she _needs _one, but I just find it a little suspicious-"

"Yes," Albus said. "That _is _suspicious."

He was quiet as he contemplated whatever he was contemplating about the situation. I, on the other hand, didn't care much about Tempest Turpin not having a second, though I probably should have. I was too distracted. I was staring at Rose, who was now staring at me. For the first time in nearly four years, she held my gaze. Though she did have her guard up, I could see the surface emotion… And it surprised me. Right there, as if it were written in ink across her eyes, was betrayal. Not just any betrayal, either. The kind of betrayal that devastated you for years. I swallowed, suddenly extremely sad. What did I do to betray her? It took every ounce of willpower not to kneel in front her right then, and beg her for forgiveness.

She had that kind of influence over me.

I took a deep breath before tearing my gaze away from hers. I didn't want to, but I had to. If I didn't I'd probably start weeping right there. I missed her _so much. _I couldn't stand it. The only place I could look was down at my hands, where I saw the Malfoy ring. Albus and I had done some speculating about it's sudden appearance, but we decided to wait awhile before actually doing any investigating. We would have to question the house-elves, and maybe even talk Teddy into doing some spying within the Ministry. If the ring had been there the whole time, the Ministry wouldn't have just not seen the ring when they searched the Manor.

"Well…" Albus finally said. "I suppose we could just _ask _Tempest Turpin why she doesn't have a second. I mean, it'd be easy to tell if she was lying. Or we could ask River-" Dominique flinched "-if he knows why Tempest doesn't have a second. That's all we can really do in this situation… _ask._" He sighed. "Damn, that bitch hates me so much…"

"Albus," Rose said, "be _nice. _It's not a mystery why she hates you."

"I guess you're right," he said, grinning at some memory and shaking his head. "Anyway. You guys understand the rules, right? We really, _really _have to be careful. Right now the only people we can trust are each other. And River and Teddy, obviously."

"And Lily," I piped up. "Lily is as involved in the situation as we are."

Albus nodded grudgingly. "Yes, but I don't want Lily involved in this anymore. She was so hurt by that bastard-"

"Lily can take care of herself," Dominique said. "She got over it."

"I don't think anyone can really get over anything that Alex has done to them," I stated blatantly.

This time, Rose flinched. I think I was the only one in the room that could hear her breathing hitch. She was biting down on her lip so hard that I was surprised she didn't cut the skin. I understood. Alex had tortured Rose in the caves. Like I had just said, you can't really get over anything that Alex did to you. I still hadn't.

"But you all understand, _right?_" Albus asked again. "I want your word."

"You have my word," Dominique said.

"You already have mine," I told him.

"You-" Rose cleared her throat, seeming to mentally shake herself out of her small panic attack. "You have mine, too."

"Great," Albus said. "Tomorrow, we'll ask Tempest Turpin why she doesn't have a second."

"Right," Dominique said. "We can ask Teddy if he knows anything about Hawk tomorrow at the Burrow. Apparently, Victoire has some really exciting news. Bitch probably bought another set of diamond incrusted plates or something…"

Albus groaned. "I forgot that we have to go to that…" He shook his head. "Well, now Scorpius doesn't have a choice but to come." He smirked at me arrogantly, and I shook me head, rolling my eyes. "Great. I think we're on the right track."

"Just fabulous," Dominique drawled sarcastically. "Listen, I need to use your restroom." She stood up and strode over to the laundry room door. Albus and I looked at each other, our eyes wide. "Is this it?" she asked, opening the door. Plastic cups and paper plates spilled out onto the floor, littering nearly half the kitchen. "Nice," Dominique said pointedly, smirking broadly.

Rose giggled.

**A/N:**

**I freaking love Dominique right now. Haha.**

**So anyway. Usually I have chapters out on like, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday nights… But I have plans this weekend and then I'm flying like across the country to the middle of no where with no internet except dialup for a week and I won't be able to get a chapter up unless I'm ridiculously patient, so I just thought I'd get this one done early so you don't have to wait like, two weeks for another chapter.**

**Anyway. Thanks for those of you who reviewed the last chapter. And double thanks to the four of you who realized that Tempest didn't have a second. Smarty pants, you guys are. I was really hoping that no body would pick up on it and it was be like a *GASP REALIZATION* moment. But it wasn't. Sigh. **

_**Interaction-y **_**probably wasn't the right word for the "review and blah blah blah" thing at the end of my A/N last time… But hey, the stared at each other efficiently without blushing for once! WIN. **

**I'm feeling slightly obnoxious right now… So I'll just say goodbye. I love you all! **

**Quotes, moments, predictions? Let me now in the reviews! **

_**Reviews will make the reason for the Dominque/River break up more apparent in the next chapter! **_

**Written,**

**Anonyous;)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Seven:**

**Scorpius Malfoy:**

Rose was talking to Lysander.

He held one of her hands in his as he spoke, his eyes locked with hers. It made me so envious that I could walk up to that bastard and punch him square in the face. I watched, disgusted, as the two of them talked with each other in low voices, small smiles on each of their faces. I wanted to gag. It was _horrible. _I couldn't stand it. The jealousy bubbling up inside of me was unbearable. It should have been me. I should have been the one standing there, holding her hand, smiling at her, talking to her. I should have been the one looking into her eyes at that moment, reading every emotion that played across her face, every emotion that showed in her eyes.

As much as I hated Lysander at that moment, I couldn't help but feel sorry for him… But my pity for him brought me great joy, ironically. I could see in Rose's face, just be looking at her from across the auditorium, that she didn't love him the way he loved her. Hell, she didn't even love the bloke. She merely _liked _him. Which made me want to start jumping with joy… and trust me, Scorpius Malfoy does _not _jump with joy. But the satisfaction it brought me to see that she didn't love him the way he loved her brought me pretty close to it.

"Hey!" a very familiar, horrible, unpleasant, awful, vile, dreadful, disgusting, horrid, terrible, unbearable, ghastly, appalling voice suddenly shrieked in my ear.

I slowly turned around, my back stiff, to come face to face with no one other than Fate Brown.

Fate Brown and I had a history. We were fuck buddies all through our time at Hogwarts. At first it was great, until she decided she loved me or something. That was when it started to get weird. She got so clingy all the time and I just couldn't handle it anymore and completely blew her off. I will admit that a few times in sixth year before everything happened with Rose I _did _have sex with her, purely for the sake of having a distraction. I knew it was wrong and I knew that I shouldn't have done it, but I felt like I needed it desperately, and now I knew that I really didn't. I could have found something better.

I knew I probably looked like an idiot, staring at her with a horrified expression across my face, but I had good reason to be looking at her like that. It would have been different if she wasn't wearing one of the _academy uniforms. _I had absolutely no clue that she wanted to become an auror. I knew that she was good at Defense Against the Dark Arts when she was at Hogwarts. She was fourth in our graduating class in Defense Against the Dark Arts - Albus, myself, Rose, Fate, and so on. But I had _no _idea whatsoever that she planned to pursue that… I had predicted she'd become a stripper or something… Not do something _useful _with her life.

But what made this even _more _weird is that I thought she had given up. The last time I actually spoke to Fate, like _really _spoke to her, was the day I found her locked and tied up in a wardrobe in Rose's old dormitory in my desperate attempt to find out who took Rose and where they took her. After that, Fate and I had a silent, but mutual understanding that we probably wouldn't speak again… Or at least I thought we did.

Then something flew out at me like a bird… not literally, but it was _right there. _Rose was over there being all mushy with Scamander. They were in plain view. So, if I could see them perfectly clearly, then obviously Rose could see me perfectly clearly. Since Albus had to go talk to his dad about something, he was going to be a few minutes late for training that day. I didn't now where Dominique was, so I assumed that she was hiding from River. I had absolutely _nobody _to scold me for trying to make Rose jealous… Except for myself, but I would do that later.

Slouching my body in the way that I knew Fate loved, I grinned cockily at her. "Hey, Fate. Fancy seeing you here." I wasn't going to deny that she was pretty. She was, well, hot. Her blonde curly hair fell in loose tendrils down her back and her green eyes always had this seductive sparkle to them.

She smiled dazzlingly. "We haven't talked in so long," she said, twirling a lock of hair between her index and middle finger. "I've missed you."

I swallowed grudgingly, and said as smoothly as I could, "I've missed you, too."

Without warning, she threw her arms around my neck and buried her makeup covered face in the crook of my neck. "Oh, Scorpius…" she sighed, her voice muffled. "I can't believe we got into that fight." _Fight? _"I felt so bad ever since that day you left me in my dormitory to go find _Weasley._" She pretty much snarled Rose's name, which made me want to throw her on the ground and stomp on her face, but I had to restrain myself. I was _trying _to suavely make Rose jealous… And abusing Fate Brown was not going to do any good.

I nodded, awkwardly patting her shoulder. "I know, I know," I mumbled.

Very discretely, I looked out of the corner of my eye at Rose. She had to have seen me, because now her teeth were clenched and her movements with Lysander were stiff. Her face was red, and when I say red, I mean _Weasley _red. Not the embarrassed Weasley red, but the really angry Weasley red. Personally, I thought she was looked _way _too angry. Who was she to get ridiculously pissed off while she was over there all but getting on with her boyfriend? All I was doing was hugging a girl.

"Listen, Fate," I said, pulling away. "I really want to hang out, but right now we need to get into our squadrons. So, I'll see you around, alright?" _Probably not, _I thought. _But I should be nice to her… at least today. She helped me accomplish something. _

"Promise?" she asked, looking up at me with big eyes.

"Promise," I lied.

"Good!" she chirped. "I'll see you around, Scorpius."

With that, she turned on her heel and practically skipped away. I watched after her, shaking my head. Sighing, I began walking to where Connolly had told us to meet every morning when we gathered in our squadrons. Dominique was there, along with Tempest Turpin. I eyed Tempest, not sure whether to think of her as a threat or not. She was fiddling with a piece of loose thread on the hem of her uniform. Her frizzy hair was pulled back, making her eyes behind her thick glasses looked massive. I wondered how Albus was going to ask her why she didn't have a second. I hoped the prick would have _some _class while doing it.

"Hello, Scorpius," Dominique said, grabbing my attention.

"Hello, Dominique," I said back. "What're you doing over here all alone?"

"Waiting for Rose," she replied. "She's been so _weird _lately… I don't know. She doesn't even want to talk to me. She's just pissed off all the time… And like, what have I done to her, you know? She snaps at me and when I ask her what's wrong she gets all defensive."

"Oh… Well… I'm sorry."

"No, it's alright. I'm just worried-"

"Merlin, Dominique! What the hell did you do to your arms?" I interrupted her, because at that moment she reached up to push a strand of hair out of her face, and in that instant, I saw flash of something… Something that I had worried about from the moment Dominique and I became friends. I had to see if it was really what I thought it was, but not right in front of everyone in the auditorium.

"What?" she asked, her face paling, quickly hiding her arms. "Nothing. I don't know what you're going on about, Scorpius-"

I grabbed her by her upper arm and pulled her out of the auditorium. She put up a hell of a fight, and she drew quite a few people's attention, including River's who was up by the podium where Hawk and Gust spoke, taking to some of his colleagues, but I didn't care. I had to figure _what _was really on her arms.

When we were completely alone, I grabbed one of her arms from behind her back and gaped at what I saw.

There were angry slashes across her forearm. Some of them were scars, but others looked like they had happened only days prior. Some of them were just on the top of the skin, but others broke through so deep I was surprised that she wasn't hospitalized for them. Of course, with magic, you could stop the bleeding… But that didn't mean you could just go slicing your skin off all the time. I was horrified. I could see that she had tried to cover them up with liquid makeup, but it was obvious that it had rubbed off, telling by the stains on her shirt.

"Dominique…" I said softly. "What…"

She ripped her arm back and held it against her chest. "It's not what you think-"

"What the hell is it then?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady. "_Why _are there cuts all over your arms?" My mind was completely blank. I knew that Dominique had problems. But I had thought those problems consisted of lack of self esteem… As in trying to make herself skinny by making herself puke or literally not eating anything for days.

"It's…" She couldn't come up with another excuse for what it was. She knew exactly what it was and she knew that I knew exactly what it was. And she knew that it was no use trying to hide something from Scorpius Malfoy. "I can't stop," she whispered, her voice cracking. "Every time I do it, I say I will. But there's always something else… Always another reason to do it again. I try to cover it up, but it wears off. And it's against uniform to wear long sleeves. I can't use magic to cover them up because I don't want Rose to hear me…"

Dominique had tears streaming down her face, leaving black tracks of eyeliner and mascara on her cheeks. "Please, Scorpius," she whispered. "Please don't tell anyone. I'm trying to stop. I promise. Just don't tell anyone." She stared down at her shoes as she spoke, her entire body hunched in like she couldn't bare to have someone look at her in this state.

Part of me understood why she was ashamed of what she looked like right then. Not because I thought she _should _feel ashamed, but because I knew what it felt like to feel so disgusted with yourself that you couldn't even look in the mirror. I knew what it felt like to want to throw yourself off a cliff so badly just to make it all end. Her reasons were different than mine, though, obviously. Hers were the competition she had with her older sister and how it seemed Victoire _always _won. She felt like she was never good enough for her parents. It probably had a lot to do with River, too. He loved her… Hell, he left his job at Hogwarts so he could be with her all the time. I didn't know who broke up with who, but I had a strong feeling that Dominique was the one who cut it off. I didn't know why, but I was sure that I'd figure out eventually.

"Dominique, you have to tell someone… You need to get help," I told her as kindly as I could.

"I _can't,_" she said, ending her statement with a sob. "You don't understand… I _can't._"

"Why?" I asked, knowing she wouldn't tell me, but hopeful anyways. "Why can't you?"

"I've done something bad, Scorpius… Something my parents won't ever forgive me for. They'll never look at me the same. My grandparents won't ever look at me the same. My cousins, my friends…" She was crying hard now. Scorpius Malfoy isn't good with crying girls. I'm about as bad as Albus is with them. It didn't help that I was seriously freaked out about whatever she was talking about. What was so bad she couldn't even tell _me, _the person who pretty much lived the life of sin before he met the love of his life? "River will hate me…" she sobbed, hitting the peak of hysteria. "He'll never forgive me. Oh, Merlin, and he loved me, too… And I did this to him!"

"Dominique, what did you do?" I asked desperately. "You have to tell me."

"I can't! Don't ask me to, because I won't! Just… help me get rid of these!" She held her arms out and I gasped, horrified that _both _arms, not only one, was covered in the terrible cuts. "Please, help me…" She continued crying as I scrambled for my wand.

"Dominique," I said once I had it in my hand. "Promise me that you'll really try to stop. I won't heal these unless you promise me."

"I promise," she said, nodding. "Just… help."

I pointed my wand at her arm, and mumbled, "_Vulnera sanentur._" After I did the same to her other arm, I looked up at her. "Dominique. Listen to me." She would look me in the face. "_Dominique!_" Finally, she looked up. "You need to get help. Promise me that you'll get help."

"I can't. But I'm trying to stop the… cutting," she whispered, wiping her eyes and face, clearing every trace of smudged makeup. "I'm really am."

"I believe you," I told her earnestly.

"Really?"

"Yes."

We were quiet for a moment before she hugged me. Awkwardly, I hugged her back. Once she pulled away, I said, "If you need to talk about it, talk to me, alright? I can listen. I may be a prick, but I'm not a horrible person. I'm here, okay?"

"How do I know you're not just saying that?"

"Because," I said simply, staring at her evenly. "What you've done can't be nearly as bad as the things I've done."

**A/N:**

**No. There is not going to be a Dominique/Scorpius fling. Just not going to happen. Sorry. Haha.**

**Damn you Scorpius. Damn you for still blaming everything bad that's happened in your life on yourself. **

**Anyway. Thanks for the brilliant reviews on the last chapter. I love you all dearly.**

**But… uh… yeah. I lied. I told you I wouldn't get a chapter out for another week, but… I kind of really wanted to write this.**

**So how do you guys feel about the Scorpius-making-Rose jealous thing? Cliché, I know, but just imagine what's it's going to make her think. Scorp wearing the "wedding" ring, then hugging Fate Brown… There'll be only one explanation in Rose's mind! Haha.**

**So… About the whole Dominique thing… What do you think she did? I know it really hasn't given any clues at all, but just take a wild guess. Someone already has and, well… they were right. To the person who guessed, you know who you are, since I replied to your review, don't mention what it is in the reviews. Haha.**

**Not a very funny chapter… There wasn't any Albus. I miss him. But he'll be in the next one, don't you worry. **

**I'm feel ridiculously calm right now. Strange since in my last A/N I was really obnoxious. Whatever.**

**Quotes, moments, predictions? Let me know! **

_**Reviews make the whole Burrow dinner thing intense! ;)**_

**Written,**

**Anonymous;)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Eight:**

**Scorpius Malfoy:**

Hawk's sudden appearance silenced everybody in the auditorium.

Albus, who had just arrived moments prior, and I exchanged a look that said, _Watch his every move. _I was slightly alarmed at how Albus looked at that moment. His hair was messier than usual and his eyes were bloodshot… Almost like he had been crying. For the love of all that is holy, did _both _of my friends have to be in a horrible state today? I knew that Albus had been at the Ministry speaking to his father before he showed up for training that day. I also knew that Albus and his father had been on, well, _not _the greatest terms the past few years. Albus didn't talk about it much, considering he was too busy trying to be what he thought his father wanted him to be. I did know that the reason for their rough relationship recently was because Albus had exploded on his father the night auror interning at the Ministry started. Albus was upset - or jealous, rather - that he wasn't going to get to intern for Harry like Teddy had when he was doing his auror interning. Albus was stuck with some git who was a seventh year when we were first years, which didn't go over well with Albus at all. He felt like Harry had chosen Teddy over him. And let's just say… it wasn't _new _for Albus to feel that way.

I quickly looked away when I realized that Albus was giving me the look that told me not to ask what was wrong and not to worry about it.

So there I was, right between Albus and Dominique, both of them with puffy and bloodshot eyes. In front of me, standing next to Tempest Turpin, was Rose who looked incredibly confused at her cousin and best friend's state. Then in front of Rose was Connolly, who looked like he could care less about what Albus looked like, but was desperate to know what was wrong with Dominique. He kept shooting her glances out of the corner of his eye and his lips were in a straight line as he tried to keep him composure professional.

Hawk cleared his throat and looked around at the crowd. I noticed that the number of trainees were _already _dwindling. And apparently, so did Hawk, for he began his daily speech with, "I see that we've already lost quite a few of you. Unfortunately, the number will continue to drop until there are only as little as fifty of you left." He looked mournful. "Now, as my colleague said your first day here, you will be learning to fight like a muggle. So far, you have just been conditioning. Though we are not stopping your conditioning, you _are _going to begin to learn to fight. Today, we are going to see what you know." People in the crowd exchanged nervous stares. "You will be paired with someone other than your partner, most likely someone of the opposite sex." Several snorts came from the overly-confident males in the crowd… This included Albus and myself. "_Don't _get your hopes up, men. The women here are just as capable of-"

"_Kicking ass!_" a girl from across the auditorium yelled.

"As you are," Hawk continued, nodding in the direction of the girl. "Now. Since we don't want you choosing who you want to fight with, rather than who you _don't _want to fight with, we are going to pick names out of a hat. An old, but efficient way of doing things fairly." He gestured to someone offstage, and then an academy employee hurried up on stage with a large wizarding hat and handed it to Hawk. Hawk held it by the brim and looked around at us all once more. "Now, there a few rules before we choose who will be demonstrating for us first. You'll all have a chance to demonstrate for us this week, so don't worry. The first rule is: Obviously, these people are your teammates, therefore, no punches to the face or any other foreign areas." Several girls giggled. "The second rule is: No magic. This is hand-to-hand combat. You will hand me your wands before you begin. The third rule is: Give it your all.

"Now, once your name is called you will not be called again this week. You will fight once this term, and then next term you will fight once more with the fighting partner you are assigned to today. I can guarantee that you will find your fighting abilities have improved by the end of second term. Now, let's get started."

Hawk kept a straight face as he ruffled the hat. He reached into the hat slowly, then dug around to the very bottom. A small slip of parchment was then pulled from the hat. He unfolded it with one hand. Without waiting, he said, "Rose Weasley!"

In front of me, Rose's back stiffened. Dominique stepped forward and whispered something in her ear as Rose stood paralyzed. After listening to Dominique, Rose met her best friend's gaze. She swallowed and nodded. Dominique hugged her briefly before giving her a little push forward and whispering, "You can do it! Kick your mystery partner's ass! You'll do great!"

Rose stumbled up on to the stage, twisting and untwisting a lock of her hair in her fingers. I had absolutely no clue what to think about this. Three things were most present in my mind. First, Rose was up there. _Right there next to Hawk. _Second, some guy was going to be punching her in less than two minutes, most likely. And three, what the hell was going to happen if she got knocked out or something? I knew that I wouldn't be able to stand it. I would be up there beating the living shit out of whoever hurt her… They would have made an enemy for life if they left so much as one mark on her.

"Good, good," Hawk said, nodding at Rose without looking at her. "Glad to see that you're brave."

That was an odd thing to say. Albus thought so too, apparently, because he stepped forward, his fists clenched.

Hawk reached his hand back into the hat and dug around some more. This time, he took a bit of parchment from around the middle of the hat. Time seemed to go in slow motion as he unfolded he parchment and stared at it. After a long moment of hesitation, unlike the last parchment, he cleared his throat and looked straight at me. "Scorpius Malfoy."

There was an intake of breath from the former Hogwarts students. It wasn't a secret that Rose and I were an item in sixth year. It also wasn't a secret that I had been completely heart-broken the majority of seventh year.

The only person I could think to look at was Connolly, desperate for him to tell Hawk that Rose and I weren't a good fighting match. He was looking back at me, his face extremely apologetic. He couldn't do anything about it. Then I looked at Dominique, who was looking at me, her eyebrows knit together. She didn't know what to say. Then I looked at Albus, who shoved me forward. "Go," he whispered roughly. "Go… Don't make things suspicious. Damn it, _go!_" He pushed me harder, sending me into Tempest, who looked outraged. I spluttered an apology without looking at her and tripped my way up to the stage.

My heart was slamming against my ribcage so hard it hurt. I couldn't swallow. I couldn't breath. The only thing that I could think about was how I _wouldn't _hurt her. I would absolutely never, _ever _hurt her. I would do anything to get out of there at that moment. I would do _anything _to be gone. But I didn't want to make myself look like a coward… But I didn't want to be forced to hit her. I promised her I wouldn't hurt her back at Hogwarts. I _promised. _And I was not going to break that promise because of some stupid training exercise we had to do.

Once I was right in the middle of the stage, facing Hawk, I handed him my wand. As I did this, I felt like something was being ripped away from me. Dignity? I didn't know what it was… But I did know that I'd leave that stage completely humiliated, because Rose would have to hit me. And I was just going to stand there, looking like an idiot. I swallowed, my throat still tight, praying to Merlin that this would be quick.

I may be in love with her, but I was still a Malfoy. Being beat by a girl was something we didn't take with grace.

Before I knew it, I was standing in front of her. I couldn't look at her in the face. There was so many emotions flowing through my body at that moment that my body was stiff. My hands were held in tight fists at my sides and I was gnawing so hard on the inside of my cheek that I could taste blood. My knees were locked and my feet seemed glued to the floor. My breathing was coming in shallow pants. I was slowly losing control.

"The two of you know the rules," Hawk said as he stood off to the side. "Please, would the both of you step forward."

I stepped forward at the same time Rose did. Our eyes finally met and I was horrified to find my hands began to shake. I tightened them into tighter fists and stared steadily at Rose. A sudden burst of agony hit me so hard I was surprised I wasn't on my knees. Her eyes were completely guarded… More guarded than I had ever seen them. Those _eyes… _Her beautiful, amazing eyes… I had seen them happy, sad, angry, betrayed, everything. I had seen them bloodshot from tears and wide with amazement. I wanted to pull her to me, hug her, kiss her… I didn't care that the entire auditorium filled with people was watching us. I wanted her so bad.

"Shake hands," Hawk said quietly.

Slowly, I held my hand out. Rose slipped her tiny, warm hand in mine, her slim fingers brushing the Malfoy ring. Then something very, very strange happened. Anger sparked in her eyes. So much anger that I was surprised she didn't leap across the meter that separated us and strangle me right there. She was so mad… But, _why? _

Then the bell rang and she _did _throw herself at me. She didn't strangle me, but what she did wasn't much better.

She sent me stumbling backwards, so hard that I fell. She came right down with me, though. The two of us were on our knees now, and she was throwing punches so hard that I had the breath knocked out of me instantly. Her fist hit my shoulder, my shoulder again, my stomach, shoulder again. Her little hands hitting me was like a stab in the heart each time. She was so mad at me… She had been mad at me so many times, but never _this _mad at me.

I pushed myself away from her, desperate to get back in a standing position, but she followed after me and grabbed both my shoulders. As she pushed me back on the ground, I finally got a clear view of her face. I expected to see her eyes guarded once more, the anger that she was expressing through her actions hidden. But I was very surprised to see that the anger was still there, along with a thousand other emotions. None of which were happy at all. I could see in that very instant that she was miserable, she was depressed, she was betrayed… But there was something else there. Something that I had a feeling didn't have to do with me. Was it _trauma? _No, that couldn't be it. There was really nothing for her to be traumatized about. But there a sadness there… She was so, _so _sad. Every ounce of self-pity I had at that moment was replaced with an overpowering worry for her self being.

Rose was straddling me now, her shins on either side of my lower torso. Her hands continued to pound away at me. I had to look like I was at least _trying _to put up a fight, so I continued to try to back away and occasionally blocked one of her hits with my arm. She was becoming more and more agitated as I continued to be irresponsive. Her hits got harder and, eventually, angry tears sprung in her eyes, making my heart throb agonizingly in my chest.

It seemed like an eternity, but finally, she screamed, "Fight! Damn it, fight me, Scorpius!"

Suddenly, anger exploded inside of me. She wanted me to _fight _her? I had promised her I would never hurt her! Physically _or _emotionally! And even though I seemed to have failed at the emotional part, it didn't mean I was going to hit her. But I wasn't just _not _going to react to what she was asking me to do. I braced myself for what I was about to, sure that it would cause me a whole shitload of pain later. I switched on my fighter mode.

Apparently, Rose didn't know how fast I could be.

My hands whipped out and grabbed her wrists, and before she could even scream, she was on _her_ back and _I _was straddling her. She tried to sit back up, but I pushed her back down. I glared down at her, and I guess I looked pretty scary because she was staring at me with what I thought was fear. I instantly felt horrible. "I'm _not _going to hurt you," I growled, tightening my grip on her wrists. "If you ever ask me to do that again, I'll…" What _would _I do? Actually hurt her? No. But there was nothing that I could really do to her if she asked me to fight her again. I left the sentence hanging, since she began struggling against my grip again. I shoved her down once more. "Do you hear me?" I asked harshly. Rose's eyes widened. "_Do you?_" I demanded once more, my anger still flaming.

Rose nodded wordlessly.

Then I did something very, _very _stupid. I leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "My promises are still intact, Rose. I _won't _hurt you."

At that moment, Hawk began clapping. "Good, good… You may let her go, Mr. Malfoy… I think she has had quite enough…"

_She has had enough? _I thought in disbelief. _Who was the one getting punched? _

"Stand up, both of you," Hawk ordered. Rose and I obeyed, quickly pushing away from each other, not making eye contact. Hawk began speaking again, but I wasn't paying attention. I had to get out of there… I had to get her face out of my head. She had never looked at me like that. _Never _had she ever looked at me in fear. It made me feel like a monster. I promised not to hurt her, yet I made her scared of me. What if this was _permanent? _What if she would always be scared of me because of this?

I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye, and saw that her hands were held in fists at her side. And she was _glaring _at me. Not just an oh-I'm-mad-at-you glare, but an I'm-about-to-fucking-castrate-you glare. I nearly cringed at how much horrible energy she was sending my way.

But _why? _

What had I done to her? Yeah, I'd made her jealous… But that was no big deal at all. All I did was hug Fate Brown, when she and Scamander were all but having sex on the floor! She was the one who broke up with me, so it should have been perfectly okay for me to be hugging another girl. Plus, I didn't even _mean _the hug I gave Fate Brown… Only Rose didn't know that… But still. Rose should not be mad at me. Of all things, I should be mad at her!

I shook my head tiredly, more confused than ever.

**A/N:**

**Feel lucky. I went and sought out wireless internet for you guys. **

**I KNOW, I KNOW… The Burrow scene was supposed to be in this chapter. But I got freakishly into the whole fighting thing… And it took a little longer than expected. So yeah. Tempest Turpin scene, the STRAIGHT to the Burrow scene, next chapter. Promise. **

**Comments, questions, predictions, quotes, etc? Let me know in the reviews! **

**What do you think happened between Harry and Albus? (It's Fanfiction…don't tell me they "wouldn't do that" unless you have a highly logical reason as to why things couldn't have changed over the years after the epilogue.) You guys all know why Rose is mad at Scorpius… But if you have anything to say about that, let me know.**

_**Reviews make Victoire's news scandalous! Or… to Dominique anyway. ;) **_

**Written,**

**Anonymous;) **


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Nine:**

**Scorpius Malfoy:**

I quickly retrieved my wand and stumbled off the stage, my heartbeats seeming oddly irregular in my chest. Albus clapped me on the shoulder once before looking at me, analyzing my emotions, hoping I wasn't going to have an emotional breakdown right then and there. Even though I felt sick to my stomach and about ready to hurl, through all the confusion and sadness I vaguely noticed a spark of joy in my stomach. _What the fuck? _I thought. Why was I _happy? _Why did I feel like I had accomplished something? Was it because I got to touch Rose? Was it because I actually got to hold her wrists and stare directly in her eyes, unashamed? Or was it because I _finally _hinted that I still loved her?

_My promises are still intact, Rose. I _won't _hurt you._

Did she understand what I meant by that? Or did she think I was some creepy stalker ex-boyfriend who had a weird obsession with her? No, no… Rose knew me well enough to know that I wasn't like that. But what was going on in her head right then? I longed to know how she felt about what I had said. Did she even know that I was pretty much telling her that I stilled cared about her? That I was right there, waiting with open arms for her to come back to me and leave that complete _wanker, _Scamander? Or did she think I was just keeping my promises and nothing more?

The same questions continued to run wild in my head as more trainees went up on stage to demonstrate their fighting skills. Some of them were pretty good, surprisingly, which embarrassed the hell out of me because I had gone up there and let myself be slapped around by a girl. The rest of training seemed to drag by that day, considering all we were doing was watching people fight. Hawk seemed to be treating the rest of the trainees as he had treated Rose and I - kind of creepily. I tried to pay attention the best I could, but eventually I got antsy and just wanted to get the hell out of there.

Though it seemed like it would never end, it eventually did. I had nearly forgotten that we had agreed to question Tempest that day and so when Albus steered me aside outside of the auditorium to wait for her, I glared at him. "We have to talk to Tempest, remember?" he asked, grabbing Dominique's elbow as she exited the auditorium as well. Rose joined us shortly after. The two of us avoided eye contact and any happy emotion I was feeling was squashed out. _Oh well, _I thought sadly. _It was good while it lasted. _

"Albus," Dominique said, looking meaningfully at her cousin. "Be _kind _to her. She's not going to tell us anything if- Tempest!" Dominique grabbed Tempest's arm as she walked out of the auditorium. Tempest looked completely affronted at Dominique's casual gesture. "Tempest, hi, I'm Dominique… I'm in your squadron. Albus and Scorpius have something that they want to ask you… Just a really quick question, it will only take a moment. Is that okay?"

"Stop talking to me like I'm a five year old, Weasley," Tempest said, yanking her arm away from Dominique. She glowered around at all of us, her piercing eyes full of nothing but pure hatred. "What do you want from me?" She turned her glare on only Albus. "I owe you _nothing, _Potter. Absolutely _nothing. _So if you need a favor from me, you're not going to get it-"

"Tempest, Tempest," Albus drawled, cutting her off. "I'm not asking for anything, dear Tempest."

This bloke was going to get himself killed one day.

"Get to the point, Potter. I don't have time for you and your little friends. I need to be-"

"Why don't you have a second?" Rose blurted out, not looking ashamed in the least. I grinned despite myself. That was my Rose. Tempest, on the other hand, was not happy at all. She looked completely _horrified _that Rose would ask such a thing. "What?" Rose asked, her hands on her hips. "You're rude to us, I'm rude to you. What goes around comes around, Tempest. Why don't you have a second?"

"I don't see how it's any of your business, _Weasley, _and I hope you know that because you treated me like that I'm not going to even consider telling you why I don't have a second. You think because you were kidnapped in sixth year you get to have special treatment? I don't think so-"

"Tempest, listen," Dominique said sweetly. "We just need to know _why. _We'll leave you alone after you tell us, we promise."

"Oh, Merlin, you _are _as bad as they say you are. Weasley and Weasley, best friends forever?" She snorted. "You both are just whores."

What the fuck was this bitch's problem?

"Listen," Albus said, growing impatient. "We just want to know why you don't have a second. It's not that big of a deal."

"Why do you need to know?" Tempest shot, her eyes bugging out.

"It's… ah… confidential," Albus told her, rocking back on his heels. "Just tell us."

"I don't think I will," she sniffed. "I don't care about your little problems. Don't think I don't know _why _you're doing this. You think I'm working for that horrible Alex Sherwood. You think it's suspicious that little old Tempest Turpin wants to be an auror. Well, I'm not. And I'm not telling you why I don't have a second."

Dominique finally snapped. "You listen here, bitch, and you listen good," she snarled, stepping forward, dropping her "nice" façade. "Tell us why you don't have a second or else we'll make your life a living hell. We'll report you to the Ministry and they'll interrogate you. You think we don't have connections? We're _Weasleys._"

"And Potters," Albus chimed in, unashamed that his cousin was completely overreacting.

"And Malfoys," I drawled, running a hand through my hair, unsure of whether to find the situation funny or serious. I watched closely as Tempest stared at all of us like we were crazy. I could see right there that she wasn't lying and she wasn't working for Alex. But I was still incredibly curious about why she didn't have second. I was almost certain that it was required.

"C'mon, Tempest," Albus said, grinning charmingly at her. "All we need is the answer. Please."

"Like I said, Potter, I don't owe you anything," she snapped, not falling for his attempt at luring her in. "Don't-"

"Okay," Albus sighed, looking disappointed. "I guess you're not telling us."

Tempest opened her mouth, but faltered. "What? You're giving up? I thought you were a Potter."

"I am," Albus said, looking bored. "Which is why I'm reporting your suspicious activity to my father."

"Oh, for the love of-" Tempest started, hitting her palm against her face.

"Unless you want to tell us?" Albus prompted. "C'mon, you know you don't want to deal with-"

"It's because nobody wanted to be my second, okay?" she finally snapped, losing her confidence and stepping away from him. "Obviously, it's not something I want to talk about. Will you shut up now?"

Now _Albus _faltered. "Oh… er… Sorry," he mumbled awkwardly. I shook my head mournfully at Albus's lack of sensitivity, but while do so, quickly analyzed Tempest. Her flush and the shame in her eyes confirmed that she _wasn't _lying. I almost felt bad for Tempest… Almost. She was rude to Rose, therefore, obviously unforgivable.

"Right," Tempest said sarcastically, but it was half-hearted. "I'm sure your sorry. Maybe next time you'll think before prying into someone's personal business." She spun on her heel and hurried away, her shoulders hunched and her hair curtaining her face.

Albus stared after her with what seemed like…

"Are you _guilty_?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at him.

"Me?" he asked, quickly looking over at me. "No, of course not."

Dominique snickered and Rose rolled her eyes. I wouldn't have thought anything more about it if Albus hadn't been completely quiet all the way home.

…

"Scorpius, Albus!" Molly Weasley nearly shrieked as Albus and I walked through the door to the Burrow. She pulled the two of us in for a surprisingly tight hug and the released us after a few moments. "Oh, the two of you look too skinny… Are you getting enough food? You know you're always welcome here for supper… We always have enough food here, you know that, I know you do." She inspected me closely. "Scorpius, dear, you look ill. Are you getting enough vitamins?"

I grinned sheepishly at Albus's plump grandmother. "I'm fine, Mrs. Weasley… Don't worry about me." Despite my protests, she straightened my shirt, telling me she would put together a potion for me to drink daily and then turned to Albus and straightened his shirt also, then proceeded to lecture him about his hair before kissing his cheek and pushing both of us down onto their battered couch. She hurried back into the kitchen, where I heard pots and pans slamming all around.

"Merlin," Albus said shaking his head. "This is getting ridiculous. I'm a grown _man._"

"Right," I said, staring around the Burrow. It always surprised me how I could easily call it a second home already. There was something just so… _inviting _about it. The people who scurried in and out of it so often even _accepted _me. Except for Ron, which was a little bit of a pain sometimes, since he seemed to leave it up to me to avoid him. He wouldn't hesitate to purposely sit next to me so he could mutter snide little comments whenever someone was speaking to me. Eventually, I got over it though. I wasn't scared of my ex-girlfriend's father.

"Scorpius, dear," Molly said, poking her head out of the kitchen. "Lily wrote you a letter. She was scared the owl would look suspicious flying through London, so she had it sent here." I smirked. Lily and her cautiousness. Molly disappeared, only to appear once again with the letter in her hand. She gave it to me before disappearing again.

I opened the letter, grinning. I hadn't heard from Lily since Albus and I went to see her off when she left for her seventh year at Hogwarts.

_Dear Scorpius, _

_I know it's probably really awkward that I'm writing you, but I just wanted to say hello to you and Albus! I know you're more responsible with letters than Albus is, so I figured I'd address it to you. It's really lonely here and I was wondering if there was anything interesting going on there. How is training? How is Al holding up? Probably not too good. He never did any physical exercise except for walking from class to class and Quidditch and neither of those count._

_How are you and Rose doing? Have you made any progress? _

_I've been trying to stay caught up with my schoolwork, but I'm so distracted lately. I don't really know why. All I can think about is the Alex situation. It makes me feel sick to my stomach. I'm getting so anxious… I feel like he's going to strike any time now. It's been so long that I feel like he's a time bomb that's reaching it's end. I'm mainly writing you to see if you feel the same way. _

_I don't want to take up too much of your time… But I was wondering if you and Albus would come down for the first Hogsmeade weekend in October? Write me back regardless to your response._

_Tell everyone I say hello!_

_Sincerely,_

_Lily Potter_

I silently handed the letter to Albus since it was intended for both of us. He read through it, shaking his head when he read the part about his lack of exercise before looking at me. "Lils has a point with the time bomb thing," Albus said, rubbing his chin. "We should probably go talk to her at the Hogsmeade weekend so we can calm her down… I don't want her to worry about this at all. She just needs to leave it up to us. Maybe we should talk to McGonagall about upping the security at Hogwarts until Alex is caught…"

"I don't think it's possible for there to be a higher security system at Hogwarts," I told him honestly. "But, yeah, I think we should go talk to her too. I don't want Lily to worry about this, either. It's not her war to fight." I stared at the letter that Albus was now holding limply in his hand, feeling guilty. Lily Potter was just a little girl when Alex had used her as a direct line into our group. Of course, Lily wasn't much help… We didn't tell her anything about what was going on. She just thought that Alex genuinely liked her and was really her friend. I had a feeling she didn't write to me because she didn't trust Albus to get the letter. It was because I knew exactly how she felt. Alex had been my best friend for years, and I had no clue what he was planning.

After taking the letter back from Albus, I folded it up and put it in my pocket. Just as I opened my mouth the make fun of Albus about Lily's comment on his lack of exercise, the door to the Burrow swung open, and in swaggered James Potter.

The resemblance between Albus and James was startling. You'd think you were looking at the same person if it wasn't for their eyes - James's were brown, when Albus's were green. But other than that, they had the same oddly pale skin, the same tall and lanky body, and the same ridiculously messy hair. Though they looked almost exactly alike, their personalities and ambitions were _very _different. When Albus's only concern was becoming an auror and pleasing his father, James was all about pleasing his _mother. _Ginny Potter, who had had a Quidditch career before her children were born, always encouraged the boys - and even Lily - to play Quidditch just for a hobby. She never asked them to become a professional Quidditch players, but James seemed to have thought otherwise. He worked exceptionally hard at trying to get into at team… any team, really. And since he was the famous Harry and Ginny Potter's son, he had all sorts of "ins" with Quidditch teams, but James was looking for the right one.

Though James was a bit more _excepting _of things than Albus was, the first words out of his mouth didn't surprise me. "Merlin… They _still _have that wretched couch? Damn, you'd think it was infested with insects… or garden gnomes or something."

"_James!_" Molly's voice yelled from the kitchen, and no less than a second later she was all over the oldest Potter grandson, kissing his cheeks and straightening his collar and trying to flatten his hair against his head. Albus and I managed to disguise our snickers as coughing fits. Molly pulled away from James to look at us. "Oh, dear," she said. "Yes, the two of you are looking rather sickly. I _told_ you, that you looked ill, Scorpius… Always trying to be a gentleman…" She patted my cheek before disappearing into the kitchen once more. I didn't know whether to be amused or offended that she thought Albus and I looked "sickly."

James flopped down on the ragged looking armchair across from us. He stared. And stared. And continued to stare.

"You know," he finally said. "It's still so weird to me not seeing the two of you trying to kill each other."

…

"Ahem," Victoire said, standing up and tapping her water glass with a fork. "May Teddy and I have your attention, please?" Victoire looked positively _glowing _as she stood in front of her entire family and the few friends she and Teddy had invited. Her face seemed more alight with joy than it usually did and she was smile dazzling. Teddy stood beside her, looking awkward and unbelievably happy at the same time.

Everyone respectively turned their attention toward Victoire and Teddy. Except Dominique. She glared down at her lap, her full lips in a straight line. River sat two seats over from her, unable to keep his eyes off her. _Damn, _that bloke was so in love with her it was disgusting to see. I felt horrible for him. I knew exactly how he felt. For some reason she broke up with him and he didn't even know why.

"As most of you know," Victoire began, taking Teddy's hand in hers. "Teddy and I have always wanted a large family… I used to make him play House with me when were children, remember sweetheart? I used to make you be the husband?" she asked Teddy who nodded, laughing. Albus and I snickered loudly, earning us several glares from the adults in the room. "Yes, yes…" Victoire continued. "It was very funny. But anyway, having a large family is something we've talked about since we were engaged. Since we were _talking _about getting engaged." She laughed breathlessly. "So, I'm very happy to announce that there's a Lupin baby on the way. I'm pregnant!"

Everyone was quiet for a moment before Molly Weasley jumped up and pulled both Teddy and Victoire into a hug. Fleur and Bill Weasley both stood and ecstatically congratulated their daughter and son in law. Harry shook Teddy's hand, smiling ear to ear and hugged Victoire tightly. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny's reactions were along the same lines as Harry's. Rose squealed and also hugged Teddy and Victoire. Albus, James, Fred Weasley, River and I all stood and cheered obnoxiously, insisting that we do shots. Everyone else's reaction was fairly the same.

But then, Dominique's voice cracked like whip throughout the room. "_You're what?_"

Everyone was instantly quiet, all eyes on Dominique. Dominique stared at her sister, her eyes filled with such utter anger and sadness that it shocked me. Then, tears began to stream down her face and she shoved past River, not seeming to realize who she had just touched, and ran out the back door. Albus and I both wentto go after her, but Rose beat us to it and was already out the door. There was a very confused silence and then Victoire also began to cry.

"Why does she have to ruin _everything?_" Victoire sobbed, still seeming to look dazzling with tears running down her face. Teddy moved to touch her, but she pushed away his hand and hurried out the front door. Teddy quickly weaved through his family and friends and followed her out the door, calling her name.

Everyone was very confused. Molly stared after Teddy and Victoire, worry in her eyes. "Oh, dear…" she said softly and then looked around the room. "Who wants dessert?" she asked. "Let's get dessert… I'll be right back." She bustled out of the room and back into the kitchen. Fleur, Ginny, and Hermione followed after her, whispering.

Eventually, conversation picked back up. As it did, I saw River slip quietly out the backdoor and a few minutes later Rose came back in. _Good, _I thought. _River needs to talk to Dominique. _Soon after Rose came back in, Victoire and Teddy joined us again. Victoire looked like she had been crying hard, and Teddy seemed to have a false smile plastered on his face. I wanted to talk to him, but I knew right now probably wasn't the time.

I rubbed my eyes tiredly. This family was _exhausting. _

…

"For the love of all that is Holy," Albus said around a mouth full of cake. "_Why _is my grandmother such a great cook?"

I grinned and shook my head. Albus seemed to forget that the last time his grandmother had made cake, he ate so much of it that he was throwing up all night. I thought I was going to have to drag that asshole to St. Mungos. "You can't eat anymore of that," I told him. "This is your seventh piece."

"You're not my mother, Scorpius," Albus said, glaring at me as he stuffed more cake into his mouth.

"No," a voice said. "But _I _am, and I also say that you need to stop eating… You eat too much." The both of us looked up from our seat on the couch to see Ginny and Harry standing in front of us. "Your father and I are leaving, sweetheart. We just wanted to come and say goodnight."

"Right," Albus said, only staring at his mother and avoiding eye contact with his father. "I'll see you later, then, I suppose. Love you, mum. G'night, dad." He looked down at his lap, suddenly very interested in a lose thread on his jean pocket.

"Al-" Harry started, but Ginny stopped him.

"Not tonight, dear," she whispered, urging Harry away. "Goodnight, Scorpius," she said to me, smiling.

"Goodnight, Mrs. Potter."

After they were gone, I looked at Albus, so tempted to ask what had happened between him and his father that morning, but he wouldn't look at me, so I just sighed and said, "I think we should go too. I'm going to take your plate. I'll be right back." Picking up the plate from the table in front of us, I stood up and began walking to the door that led to the kitchen. Through the little window on the kitchen door, I saw that Rose and Hermione were in there. Were they… arguing?

I pressed my ear against the door and listened.

"-don't know that, Rose," Hermione was saying. "Have you _asked _him?"

"No, mum… But I just have a feeling. I saw him hug that horrible girl yesterday. They were all over each other, right in plain view! And then he has that ring on his finger. I don't think it gets any more obvious than that-" _What? _Was Rose talking about me? How… What… _Why? _Why was she talking about me? She seemed to have moved on to Scamander_. _But for some reason, what I was most curious about was why she was talking about the Malfoy ring.

"Dear, men wear jewelry all the time. And have you ever thought he was trying to make you jealous by hugging that Fate Brown girl?" Hermione asked gently. My cheeks colored. Damn Hermione Weasley and her sense of logical. Damn. Her.

"No," Rose said, stubbornly. I could almost imagine her putting her chin up at her mother. "I know he's not."

"Rose… I know Fate Brown's mother. From what you've told me, Fate is an awful lot like Lavender… I don't think Scorpius would set up anything long term with this girl. He's not the type." Hermione stopped talking, and Rose didn't respond. Finally, Hermione spoke again. "Sweetheart, why don't you just ask him?" she asked tiredly. "I think if it's causing you this much trouble, you should just ask."

"But I _know _that he's engaged, mum, I just know-"

_What? _She thought I was _engaged? _To _Fate? _I was so surprised that I snorted, rolling my eyes. Well, I guess the jealously thing worked. And apparently, having the Malfoy ring on worked out in my favor also… But then I felt horrible. And sad. And angry. All of my usually emotions wrapped up into one big ball of… well… horribleness. How could Rose have thought that I moved on that easily? Well, it had been two years… But didn't she see the way I looked at her? I had to have _some _emotion in my eyes when I looked at her. Could she not read me like I could read her?

Without thinking, without even realizing what I was doing, only feeling the overpowering need to let her know that I was still available and that I still wanted her to be mine and that I would always be hers, I pushed open the door and stepped inside.

"I'm _what?_"

**A/N:**

**Oooh. A lot happened in this chapter.**

**About two pages longer than my normal chapters are. Hope you enjoyed. **

**I'm really exhausted… I just got home. I don't really feel like writing a long A/N today. **

**Questions:**

**- What do you think Scorp's going to do? **

**- Dominique and River? Think they made up?**

**- Any knew ideas about Dom's situation? **

**Quotes, comments, predictions? Let me know in the reviews!**

_**Reviews make Scorpius and Rose really, actually, seriously talk! Well…more like argue. But you get it! ;) **_

**Written,**

**Anonymous;)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Ten:**

**Scorpius Malfoy:**

Instantly, Rose went silent. I raised an eyebrow at her questioningly.

Hermione looked at me, and then at Rose, and then at me again. She cleared her throat softly. "I'll just leave you two alone…" she said quietly, before bustling out of the kitchen and closing the door behind her. Rose stared after her mother, her teeth clenched, probably angry that her mum left her with me. I turned my head and looked out the little window to see that Hermione was in fact _gone, _and Rose and I were completely alone… for the first time since she broke up with me.

I almost found the situation comical… Well, I _did _find the situation comical in a twisted, I'm-deep-in-shit sort of way. I rubbed my temples and leaned against the counter, then finally stared at Rose again. She was looking determinedly at the floor, her face as red as a tomato. She chewed on her lower lip feverishly, probably wondering how the hell she was going to get out of _this _particular situation. She looked so _cute. _It disgusted me how I could still think that about her. I didn't know if I was mad at her, but I did know that I wasn't exactly _happy _with her. First, she beats me up until I could barely walk, and second, she talks about me being _engaged _to Fate Brown with her mother before even confirming it with someone who would know for sure.

"So," I finally said, "I'm engaged to Fate Brown?

Rose was quiet. She made no indication that she even heard me at all.

I rolled my eyes and stared at her incredulously. She was just talking to her mother about me! Not even less than five minutes ago was she standing in this kitchen, telling her mum I was engaged to Fate Brown! Now she had the nerve to act as if I wasn't even in the room, confronting her on the lie she had told her mother about me? This was just getting ridiculous. "Really?" I asked pointedly. "Are you _really _going to do this? You were just talking about me a moments ago, and now you act as if I'm not even here? As if I haven't heard the entire conversation you and your mum had?" I laughed humorlessly. "You're something else, you know that? For the love of Merlin, the least you could do is _acknowledge _me."

Rose continued to stare at the ground.

"You don't think you owe me an explanation?" I asked her. "You don't think you owe me _a lot _of explanations? Lets start with something easy… How about why the hell were you pretty much beat me senseless today in training? Don't even tell me that it's 'what we were supposed to be doing' either. Was it because supposedly I'm getting married to Fate Brown? That whore that I had a few flings with at Hogwarts? The girl I swore to you that I had never loved, and will never love?"

Rose tried to keep her composure, but tears filled her eyes. I couldn't find it in myself to feel bad, even though I knew I would later. I would feel just fucking _horrible _later, but right then I was on a roll and I wasn't willing to stop.

"So that's it, isn't it? It's because you thought I was engaged?" I shoved away from the counter and walked into the middle of the kitchen, which only left about a meter and half between us. I ran a hand through my hair exasperatedly. "How thick are you? You honestly think that I would pull someone else into this situation? You think I would make another person a target for Alex to kill? You're one, Albus is one, Dominique is one! Fuck, your entire _family _is a target! Don't you think that's _enough?_" I was shouting now, nearly shaking. I was surprised I let my anger get the best of me, but I couldn't help it. "You think I'm _that _cold-hearted of a person? You think I'd seriously put someone I was going to make my _wife _in danger?"

Rose's tears spilled over and her lips trembled. I stepped closer to her, finally closing that gap between us. Resting my hands on either side of the counter that she was leaning on, I stared directly into her eyes. Slowly, her gaze met mine.

"I can't believe you," I said quietly. "I honestly can't believe that you thought I was engaged. Even if I was, it still wouldn't be right for you to be acting this way. Who are you to get _jealous _of a girl that I like - which I don't, mind you - when you're over there, snogging Scamander? Every chance you get you try to rub it in my face. I just want you to know that you're a cold-hearted _bitch _for doing that to me _and _for making Lysander Scamander a target. How would you feel if you woke up one day and heard that he was dead? Murdered in his sleep? Torn to _shreds _with a knife? Drowned in a well? How guilty would you feel if you found him, his fucking eyes gouged out of their sockets and you had to live with the fact that you weren't there in time to save him in time-"

"Shut up, Scorpius!" she half screamed, half sobbed as she pushed me away from her. "Just _shut up! _Stop talking like that!"

"I'm only being realistic!" I shouted deafeningly in her face. "It's a _reality! _I have to live with the fact that I wasn't there to save my father in time! At least you _know _that you're making Lysander Scamander a target! I didn't! I had no idea why my father was laying dead on the ground! I had no clue that someone was coming after us! When I'm standing here, trying to protect every person possible, here you are shoving people into danger! Then, while you're doing that, you have the nerve to get mad at me for being 'engaged' to someone? I can't _believe _you!"

"This is who you are now?" Rose yelled, her entire body shaking as she picked up her bag that was laying on the counter and slung it over her shoulder. "I'm sorry for actually trying to be happy! I'm sorry trying not to be negative! I'm sorry that I want to trust people! I'm sorry that I don't walk down the street, certain that someway, somehow one of my family members or best friends is going to get _killed! _I'm sorry that I'm just trying to-"

"You're not trying to do anything, Rose! The only thing you're trying to do is cover up the situation like it never happened! You think I don't know you? You don't think I see that the smile on your face is fake? You don't think that I can tell just from your eyes that you are _miserable? _Stop lying to yourself and do something about it, because nobody is going to do it for you!"

She swung open the door to the kitchen and stalked out into the living room, seeming to forget that almost her entire family was gathered there. They were all silent, obviously having heard us scream at each other for a good ten minutes. I wasn't embarrassed, and apparently neither was she, because once I followed her out into the living room, she screamed, "I hate you, Scorpius Malfoy!" and stomped out the front door. I was right on her heels, not really registering what she had just said. Once we were standing in front of the Burrow, I opened my mouth to speak but she cut me off. This time, her voice was much quieter.

"You act like you know me, but you don't," she said. "You haven't known me for nearly three years. I don't know you either, apparently, because you've turned mean. I used to think you were this gentle, kind-hearted person. But you're not anymore."

Finally, her words hit me like a ton of bricks. I could feel my face pale and the air rush out of me. She hated me. She thought I was mean. She didn't know me anymore. She didn't think I knew her anymore. I looked at her for a long moment, and just as I was about to tell her she was wrong, she disapparated, leaving me staring at the place in the dirt where she once stood.

**Rose Weasley:**

I appeared in my flat, having to grab a hold of the arm of the couch to keep myself from falling to ground. Tears streamed down my face as my body shook with horrible sobs. I couldn't get his words out of my head. _I just want you to know that you're a cold-hearted bitch, _he had said. He promised he would never hurt me, yet he tore my already-damaged heart to shreds just by saying that one statement. Scorpius had called me a bitch before the two of us had ever been in a relationship, when he and Albus had been enemies and I had taken Albus's side… But never once after the two of us began actually speaking. Not even when I had broken up with him.

Maybe I really was a cold-hearted bitch. Maybe he was right to think of me that way. Maybe it was good that that was the only thing he thought of me as now. Not his Rose. Not the love of his life. Not the person he could talk to about literally anything. Those thoughts made the pain all the more worse. I began to cry harder. If only he knew that I was trying to protect him when I broke up with him. If only he knew that that it killed me when I broke up with him too.

I was such a horrible person. He helped me during our sixth year, and I repay him by being a selfish, disgusting person. I didn't _mean _to be that way! I was just trying to find distractions for myself… Didn't he understand that? Of course he didn't… He had no clue what happened in the caves. He thought that Alex had only tortured me. He didn't even know the _beginning _to what happened. It wasn't his fault, either. It was mine. I could have told him… but I was ashamed. I was very, very ashamed. Suddenly, there was a pounding on my door. "_Rose!_" a voice shouted. "Open the door!"

I stood up quickly, wiping my nose with my sleeve and hoping my face wasn't _too _swollen from crying. I hurried over to the door and opened it a tiny crack. I was surprised to see Albus standing there, looking impatient. "How old were we when the two of us snuck into Knockturn Alley alone?" I whispered, cringing at how hoarse my voice was.

Albus looked confused for a moment, but then he remembered that we had agreed to do the question-answer thing to make sure that one of us weren't Alex in disguise. "Thirteen," Albus said promptly. "Why did we go into Knockturn Alley?" he asked as I let him in.

"We didn't mean to," I said, closing and locking the door. "We got lost."

Albus nodded sat down on the couch. He looked exhausted as he stared at me. He wasn't looking at me with sadness, or even anger… He stared at me as if he were trying to calculate something. His eyebrows slightly pinched together, his lips pursed.

The silence was irritating me to no end so I eventually asked, "What? Here to spout off more insults for your friend?" I regretted it the moment I said it, because as soon as the words left my mouth his calculating expression finally turned to anger. Her glared at me like I was scum on the ground. It made me feel even more disgusting.

"No," Albus growled, "I'm not. I was worried about you. And I'm here to speak for Scorpius." I opened my mouth to say something, but Albus cut me off. "_Not _insults. He didn't even ask me to say anything. I just think that you're too stupid to read through the lines." Albus sighed and rubbed his face with his hands, then ran them through his hair. "He didn't mean anything he said to you, I hope you know," he finally told me. "Yeah, a few of the things he said were _true, _but he didn't mean them to be offensive. He's jealous and he's hurt, Rose. Though he may not think he's mad at you, he is. He has good reasons to be, too."

"Oh, Merlin," I said, throwing my hands up in the air. "So you're here to lecture me? Well, sorry, Albus, but I don't want to be reprimanded. I'm not a child. I can make my own mistakes and punish myself. I don't need to be sent to time-out."

"Can you just listen to me?" Albus asked almost desperately. "You don't _understand, _Rose. He's in horrible shape. You only see him at training. You don't see him at home or out in public. You don't see the way he _acts. _He's not how he used to be, and it's getting worse."

"Give me an example," I asked, trying to sound nonchalant, but I could feel a little bit of panic forming. If Scorpius wasn't acting like himself, then how was he acting? Was he acting out or not acting at all? I shuddered internally. Nobody could ever tell how Scorpius was going to react to something, not even me.

"He's smoking. Smoking_, _Rose. Those wretched little cancer sticks that the muggles feel like they need. Do you hear that? The _muggles. _Scorpius may not be discriminative, but he's proud of his blood status. He's one of the only purebloods left. Two years ago, do you think that he would be doing something that _muggles _do, and only muggles? It's not normal for pureblood wizard to pick up on muggle habits. I don't know how he got a hold of them, but he did and he can't seem to stop."

"Albus. He's only smoking. Yeah, it's disgusting and horrible… But it's not like he's-"

"He still has dreams sometimes, did you know that? I don't think they're about his father, but the first night we were in our flat he starting screaming in his sleep. I had to wake him up. I didn't want him to hurt himself. His whole body was covered in sweat. He didn't know where he was. Are you going to tell me that that's not unusual?"

I clenched my teeth. So Scorpius _was _still having nightmares. I instantly longed to comfort him. To hug him as I did the night he relived his father's death in his sleep and was taken to McGonagall's office. I wanted to know if he was okay. I wanted to know if he needed me as much as I need him. I took a deep breath and looked at Albus. "What's your point here? What do you want me to do? Do you want me to talk to him?"

"All I want you to do is let him know that you still care about him. Don't even act like you don't. I know you do. I can see it on your face when you're thinking about him. And let's face it… you wouldn't have made such an exit at the Burrow if you didn't still care about him. I don't care how you tell him you care about him. You can talk to him, you can send him a patronus, you can write him a damned song for all I care. Just please tell him." Albus took a deep breath, steadying his voice. "He's like a brother to me, Rose. I don't want to see him like this."

I sighed and sat next to Albus. Putting my arms around my cousin, I nodded. "Alright," I told him. "I promise. I'll find someway to let him know." I didn't know how, and I didn't know when, but I would. Albus didn't ask much of me. He was too kind, even if he didn't like to show it… And if this was something he really wanted from me, I would do it for him. I let go of him, happy to see relief on his face.

"Thanks, Rose," he said before standing up and walking over to the door. "I'm going to get going. It's late." I followed him and opened the door for him. Just as I was about to shut the door behind him, Albus turned around and stared me straight in the eyes. "He left right after you did," Albus said quietly, his voice very gentle. "But not before I told him I was going to go see you. He told me to tell you that he's sorry."

I bit my lip and nodded. Albus turned and walked down the steps that led from our flat to the sidewalk of London. I knew Albus was only trying to make me feel better about Scorpius saying that he was sorry, but all it did was make me feel worse. Scorpius never really did anything to be sorry about in the first place.

I walked numbly to my bedroom and shut the door. After laying down on my bed, I closed my eyes. I wondered how I was going to tell Scorpius I still cared about him. Beat around the bush or cut straight to the point? I decided with the latter. But I wanted to tell him in person… I didn't know why, but I didn't think it would be right not seeing his face as I did this. I _owed _it to him to tell him in person. I decided I would write him in the morning, asking him to meet me at the Leaky Cauldron tomorrow night.

I hoped I wouldn't regret this.

**A/N:**

**I don't usually switch POV right in the middle of the chapter, but I felt like you guys needed to see (or read) the Albus-Rose interaction thingy. **

**Yeah, yeah… the argument was pretty harsh, but it had to happen. The Leaky Cauldron scene will be much… gentler. But don't expect a kiss or anything, because you're not going to get it. Haha. **

**Sorry if I sound kind of…blah. I'm super exhausted. **

**Oh, and please don't be too hard on Rose. I know the majority of you don't like her… but that's only because Scorpius is the ACTUAL main character. I can already see the "oh manz…roze iz such a bitchz." (Okay, none of you really type like that, but still.) Yeah, Rose annoys me too… but in this chapter she really didn't. Think about what Scorpius said to her, and then think about how you would feel if your ex-boyfriend-soul mate-thing said that to you before commenting about Rose's behavior. Haha.**

**But you know the drill… Comments, quotes (not really any funny ones this chapter, sorry!), questions, predictions? What do you think is going to happen at the Leaky Cauldron? **

**Song lyrics…next chapter. I promise. ;)**

_**Reviews make The Leaky Cauldron meeting not too… awkward? I don't know. Too tired. You know what's up. Haha. ;) **_

**Written,**

**Anonymous;) **


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

****EDIT AFTER ORIGINALLY POSTING: Bare with me guys…for some reason my computer didn't save after I edited this, so this chapter isn't edited. I would just repost it, but I don't want two emails to show up in your inbox. It leads to a lot of confusion… I'll fix as much as I can! Sorry! ): **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Eleven:**

**Scorpius Malfoy: **

"Scorpius!" Albus shouted from the other side of my bedroom door. His fists pounded on it relentlessly. "Scorpius, you have to get up! We got a letter from my father… He wants to see us before training this morning!"

I opened my eyes and stared blankly up at the ceiling for a moment. Then, everything from the night before tumbled into my brain and made me feel so nauseous that I rolled over on my side, clutching my stomach and groaning. I couldn't believe what I had done. What I had called her. I called her a cold-hearted bitch. How could I have said that to her? I loved her, for Merlin's sake! How was I going to fix this? _Damnit, damnit, damnit! _I thought, thrashing around in my bed like an angry child. The guilt was agonizing. I was completely disgusted with myself.

"Scorpius!" Albus shouted again. "Are you even in there?"

"Yeah!" I yelled back, cringing at how angry I sounded. "I'll be out in a minute!"

I wondered why I wasn't _this _angry with myself when I had gotten home the night before. _Oh, yeah, _I thought, seeing the what seemed like endless pile of firewhisky bottles on the ground next to my bedside table, _I got shit-faced drunk and passed out on my bed. _Then, I finally felt the hangover. Launching myself off my bed and across my bedroom, I threw my hand over my mouth to keep myself from puking everywhere. Finally, I was leaning over my toilet and threw up everything I had in me from the night before. "Fuck," I moaned pathetically, falling back onto my ass and wiping my mouth with my arm. I was definitely pitiable at that moment. More pitiable than I had been in awhile. I was so angry with myself that I could spit, I had tears running down my face from puking up an entire night's worth of food, and I felt so hung over that I could barely walk.

I needed a cigarette.

After carefully standing back up, I staggered out of my bedroom and into the living room, where I found Albus attempting to wrestle a speckled brown and white owl for a letter. "For the love of Merlin," he grunted trying to hold the apparently strong owl in place. "This thing is a bitch. I bet it's Dominique's." Finally, he managed to untie the letter and looked at the back of the envelope. He sighed, trying to seem nonchalant, but there was something in his eyes that made me feel uneasy. "It's for you," he said, casually handing me the letter before he shoved the owl out the window.

I took the letter and picked up my box of cigarettes and book of matches and walked out the front door of our flat. I leaned over the railing of our second story flat's balcony, relieved that the crisp morning air made my hangover seem not as bad as it really was. I put my cigarette in my mouth and lit it with a match. Finally, I looked at the letter and nearly dropped the cigarette of my mouth. My name was written in Rose's handwriting. I stared at it for a long moment before shakily running my finger beneath the flap of the envelope and pulling out a folded piece of parchment. I took a deep breath and unfolded it.

_Scorpius, _

_I feel that the both of us are quite headstrong when it comes to certain issues and I think our way of handling our problems last night was blown way out of proportion. I'd like to talk to you one-on-one about what happened between us last night. I understand if you don't wish to see me, but I hope that you can spare me a few minutes. _

_If you would like to talk to me about what happened, meet me at the Leaky Cauldron tonight at seven o'clock. I'd be very grateful if you did. I'd much rather prefer that you didn't reply to this letter, and just meet me at the Leaky Cauldron tonight if you're up to it. If not, please, feel free to decline my offer._

_Thank you for taking the time to read this._

_Sincerely,_

_Rose Weasley_

My instant reaction was to take my book of matches and light the letter on fire. Which surprised me, considering I felt horrible for the things I said to Rose the night before. But I could help but feel angry with her for saying that she hated me, and saying that I had changed when I was only trying to protect myself and her family. But as I went to rip the letter apart, I reread it.

Then reread again. And again.

I reread it several times before I sighed and folded it back up and put it my pocket. I wasn't in the right state to decide whether or not I'd go see her tonight. I still felt sick from my hangover and I was still angry with her and myself for completely overreacting the night before. I needed a few hours to think about it. I'd see how I felt when I saw her at training. If I could only be angry while looking at her, I would decide not to go tonight. But if I could only feel regret when I looked at her, I would go. Simple as that… I hoped.

…

"You boys have to know why I called you here this morning," Harry Potter said from behind his large oak desk. His office was ridiculously fancy. Big squishy chairs were in front of his desk, where Albus and I sat. He had a large tank that made up the wall behind his desk full of grindylows. Several plaques of achievements hung on the walls left and right of me. I guessed being Head Auror had its advantages.

"Er… no," Albus said, seeming confused. "Actually, we don't."

Normally, I kept my mouth shut around Harry. It's not that I didn't like him, or he didn't like me… But I felt a little awkward around him. He was one of the only people who saw me up close directly after my father's death. I remembered our conversation perfectly, considering I had relived it through dreams several times. He had been in shock over my father's death. I didn't know if he was sad… Probably not, considering they were enemies all through their time at Hogwarts. But one particular statement from him stood out to me… I would never forget it. _You look just like he did at your age, Scorpius, _he had said. I had been told I looked like my father my entire life. But the way Harry Potter had said it… Mournful, maybe even remorseful. Almost as if he regretted never telling my father he forgave him for what he had done.

Harry sighed, letting his glasses slide down his nose before rubbing his eyes tiredly. Then, he turned to me. "Scorpius," he said. "I left before your argument with Rose… But Ron was there and he told me some of the things the two of you said each other." I opened my mouth to tell him to mind his own business and that it was private, but he cut me off. "I'm not here to discuss what's going on between you and my niece. I'm here to talk to you about Andre Shroudrouge."

I was momentarily confused, but then I remembered that "Alex Sherwood" was only an alias. I would never get used to calling him Andre Shroudrouge. I nodded slowly at Harry, before sending a look at Albus, who sighed. "Look, dad," Albus said, finally looking his father straight in the face. "We know that you don't want us going after Alex, but that doesn't mean we can't be prepared incase he comes after us."

Harry mumbled something about regretting raising his children to be "overly cautious" and stared at Albus, then at me again. "Look, you two. I know that it's hard for the two of you to accept the fact that Andre is in hiding somewhere and he could strike at any time… But the aurors here are doing everything we can to find him."

"Obviously," Albus growled, grinding his teeth. "They aren't doing a very good job of it considering it's been two years - almost three years - and they haven't found him yet!"

Harry exhaled slowly, frustrated. "As much as I admire your… _ambition_, Albus, I can't continue to allow you think that you're going to be able to take on Andre single-handedly."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Albus demanded, glaring at his father. "When did this become about _me?_" Albus looked seriously pissed off as he glowered at his dad. He gripped the arms of the chair he was sitting in tightly. "Scorpius and Rose were the two who got in an argument last night, not me."

"Though you weren't in the argument, I got the feeling that you're pretty involved in the Andre situation," Harry said carefully, obviously trying not to get too impatient with his son. I felt uncomfortable as the two argued. I didn't want to be in the middle of a Potter father-son yelling match.

"You heard all of this from _Uncle Ron_," Albus said exasperatedly. "How fucking reliable is that?"

"Don't speak of your uncle that way, Albus!" Harry snapped, finally losing his temper. "And don't use that kind of language in my office! I called you here today to let you know that the aurors have got the Andre situation under control and that the two of you and Rose and Dominique are not to worry about it! I don't want the four you to put yourselves into danger-"

"News flash, dad! The four of us are in more danger than anybody else right now!" Albus said standing up from his chair, his voice rising as he did so. "As much as you'd like to think we aren't, we are! Sorry that Uncle Ron seems to think that I'm just causing trouble, rather than trying to fix this! What has he even done to try to fix it? What have _you _done? Nothing! The two of you sit here on your asses sending aurors to only Merlin knows where-"

"I will not be spoken to this way by my own son!" Harry shouted, also standing up. "You're being ungrateful, Albus! I don't know what has gotten into you these past couple of years, but I hope you snap out of it soon because all you're doing is-"

Suddenly, Harry's office door swung open, and Teddy Lupin walked in. He stopped when he saw that he had interrupted something. "Er…" he said, looking at me. I shrugged uncomfortably at him. "I can come back?" he offered, edging back toward the door.

"No, no!" Harry said, sitting back down. "Come in, Teddy, come in… What do you need?"

This when I knew things were going to get bad.

"Oh, for the love of _Merlin!_" Albus shouted deafeningly at his father. "I can't even sit through a conversation with you that you asked to have without _him _interrupting!" Albus looked murderous as he strode from the room and slammed the office door shut behind him. Teddy and Harry exchanged a look and I mumbled something about seeing the two of them later, before quickly leaving.

…

Albus didn't show up for training, but once I got home I was relieved to find him reading _Quidditch Through the Ages _in his bedroom. I left him alone once I saw that he was okay. He still looked pretty torn up about what had happened with his dad, so I figured he wanted to be alone. It was already six o'clock by that time I made my decision on whether to see Rose or not.

I decided that I would. Things couldn't really get any worse than they actually were, and it sounded like she only wanted to talk. She didn't try to say anything to me at training… She seemed oddly concerned with Dominique for the majority of the day, which made me oddly concerned with Dominique. And a little suspicious about what happened between her and Connolly the night before. Connolly didn't come to training. Furor Gust filled in for him all day, and let's just say that's something I never _ever _wanted to experience again. He was way too obnoxious for his own good.

"Hey, Albus," I called through his door, knocking on it with my fist.

"Yeah?" he called back, sounding tired and really, well, sad. I felt kind of bad for leaving him… but this conversation with Rose had to happen. I realized I didn't really have a choice whether or not to go, after all. I had to settle things with her before we could move forward and actually figure out what was going on with Alex.

"I'm going to the Leaky Cauldron for a few hours," I said, praying he wouldn't ask too many questions. I had a feeling Albus knew that I was going to see Rose, but that didn't mean I wanted to talk about it with him… Not yet anyway.

"Alright," he said, and then laughed half-heartedly. "Don't apparate drunk. Have me come get you if you're shit-faced. We don't want you ending up in Belgium again…"

I rolled my eyes, not bothering to remind him that _he _was the one who accidentally apparated to Belgium when he was drunk. "Will do, mate. I'll see you later."

After that, I began to walk to the Leaky Cauldron. I still had an entire hour and I'd be able to make it on foot. I wondered what was going to happen between the two of us. Would we get into another shouting match? Throw chairs across the pub in anger? Or would all emotions come out? Would the two of us be telling each other what we really, truthfully felt? I had a feeling it would be in between the two of those possible scenarios.

I preferred it that way. I didn't want this to be all about our anger to each other, and I also didn't want this to turn into a sappy-show-me-your-feelings sort of thing, either. I wasn't ready to tell Rose exactly how I felt about her. I didn't want to make myself vulnerable to her again, and then have her randomly smash any form of trust that we had and not give me an explanation for it.

Oh, explanations… I hoped she would tell my why she broke up with me. I hoped she would tell my why the hell she jumped to the conclusion about me marrying Fate Brown. _Fate Brown… _Tempest Turpin would have been a more realistic person to think I was engaged to, and I didn't even know her! I shook my head in disbelief. I saw her kissing Scamander all the time and I didn't automatically assume that the two were married! But then again, I had the Malfoy family ring on my ring finger.

I nearly groaned. I would have to tell her about finding the Malfoy ring. I hoped she wouldn't ask too many questions. It's not that I cared that she knew about it, it's just I really, _really _didn't want to talk about it with her. I could barely talk about the ring to Albus without wanting to start crying like a little bitch…

I would have to tell her a lot of things so she would know that she could still trust me. I wanted her to think that she could still tell me things. There had to have been a reason she broke up with me… I was determined to find out, too. Not today, obviously. That would just make me look like a nosy prick. But, hopefully, soon, she would be able to see that if she was willing to trust me again, I was willing to trust her.

**A/N:**

**Right, right… You guys wanted the Leaky Cauldron scene in this chapter. Sorry. It was getting too long and I have a feeling the Leaky Cauldron scene will take up a whole chapter on it's own. **

**This chapter turned out to be kind of a filler… But I needed that scene with Harry in there, since the entire family heard the argument. And the majority of the argument was about everyone being in danger from Alex… They couldn't just ignore that.**

**Music. Next chapter. Promise. Since I THOUGHT the LC scene would be in here, I assumed I would be able to put in this song…but the LC scene would have made things too long.**

**After the next chapter things are going to be sped up a little because I'm already on chapter eleven and it's still only Thursday night, and the first chapter took place on a Sunday night. **

**Questions, comments, quotes, favorite moments, etc? Let me know in the reviews!**

_**I don't feel like doing this "Review and…" thing today because I'm tired. So. Review because you love me? :D Haha.**_

**Written,**

**Anonymous;) **


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Twelve:**

_She, She is the words that I can't find _

_How can the only thing that's killing me make me feel so alive _

_And I couldn't speak _

_I couldn't breathe to save my life _

_All of my chances swim like sinking ships _

_This time it's it _

_I'll drown or make her mine _

**-She (For Liz); Parachute **

**Scorpius Malfoy:**

I pulled open the door to the Leaky Cauldron and stepped inside. I looked around for a moment and realized that she wasn't there. I checked my watch. I was five minutes early. _Damn, _I thought. I hoped she would be here first so I could avoid the awkward moment where she sat down at the table and looked at me before I said something to greet her, since _I _was the first one there. I sighed and strode across the pub, getting several looks from the older people sitting at the bar.

I was used to getting that look. It was a holy-shit-is-that-Draco-Malfoy-I-thought-he-was-dead look. It was pain at first, but I had to get used to it. It wasn't my fault I was a spitting image of my father. And to be quite honest… I was _proud _that I looked so much like him. It made me feel like there would always be a tiny part of him with me, every minute of the hour, every hour of the day, every day of the week. It was a weird thing to think, and to some it might even be creepy, but I found comfort in the fact for some odd reason.

Once I found an empty booth in the back corner of the Leaky Cauldron, I sat down. My mind was pretty much blank at this moment. I didn't know if it was because I was being optimistic about what could happen between Rose and I or if I was just scared shitless of what might come out of our mouths. I rubbed my eyes with my thumb and middle finger. This could turn out really good or really bad… And surprisingly, either way wouldn't be easy. I'd leave hurting whichever way the situation went, which was not something I was looking forward to.

"Hello, dear," a barmaid said, smiling kindly at me. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"Er… yeah," I said, glancing around awkwardly. Would Rose want a butterbeer or Firewhisky? I remembered how she didn't take her shot the night we were at the wizarding club… So I assumed she probably wouldn't drink any alcohol now. "One firewhisky and one butterbeer, please," I told the barmaid. "And if I could pay for that now, that'd be great," I added on. I didn't want Rose to have to pay for her drink, and I knew that if we waited until after talking to pay she'd insist on paying for her own. We may not be together anymore, but that didn't mean I wasn't a gentleman. I was paying for the drinks.

"Of course, love," the barmaid said as I handed her a galleon.

"Keep the change," I said distractedly, keeping my eyes on the door.

The barmaid said something about being back with the drinks in a few minutes and nodded.

I waited impatiently for Rose to walk through the door, and even though it seemed like an eternity, she finally did. Her hair was pulled into a low, lose bun on the side of her head with a white flower clipped right next to it. She wore a thin olive green sweater and skin tight jeans tucked into brown boots. She looked gorgeous, as usual. My heart throbbed painfully against my ribcage as I watched her stand on her tiptoes to see where I was sitting. Her cheeks turned red as she saw me and she hurried over to our table.

It seemed to take forever for her to actually get there, even though I knew she was walking faster than she normally would. But the moment came where she was sliding in the booth across from me. It all seemed to happen in slow motion, but finally, the two of us were staring directly at each other. We didn't say anything. I would have said something… but I was horrified at what I saw.

I hadn't actually taken the time before that moment to look at her. To really, _really _look at her. Sure, I looked at her eyes to see that she was miserable and depressed. That was easy to do… but apparently, I hadn't saw that I could have just looked at her physical appearance to see that she was miserable and depressed. She was skinny… very, very skinny. Her nails were chewed down to the quick, as were mine… A habit the two of us must have both developed over our time apart. She was very pale, which wasn't unusual, but this… this was ghostly _pale. _It made her freckles stand out even more than usual. She had dark circles under her eyes, which I hadn't seen before today, so I assumed it was probably because she hadn't gotten any sleep the night before because of our fight.

"Here you are, you two," the barmaid said, setting down the firewhisky in front of me and the butterbeer in front of Rose. "Just yell if you need anything." She smiled before hurrying away.

I cleared my throat awkwardly as I looked down at my fingers which I was tapping against the table. I looked up through my lashes to see Rose eyeing her butterbeer apprehensively. I clenched my teeth, not sure whether to laugh at her facial expression or to scream at her lack of trust in me.

"I didn't poison it, Weasley," I drawled, running a hand through my hair. "I swear."

Rose looked shocked that I spoke. Quickly, as if to prove she knew I didn't poison her drink, she sipped it. She was so _cute. _I swallowed, trying to keep my composure. I couldn't let her influence over me take over right now. It was important that I was one hundred percent myself. After she set it down, she looked up at me. "Thanks," she said quietly.

"For not poisoning your drink?" I asked in disbelief. "You know, I didn't change _that _much-"

"No, no," she mumbled. "No…" She laughed breathlessly, making me grin. "I meant thanks for meeting me here tonight."

I nodded, holding my firewhisky bottle to my lips and taking a swig. "Right," I said. "No problem." _Okay, this isn't _that _bad, _I thought in relief. _It's only awkward. _I preferred awkward over really, really horrible any day. I looked around for a moment, nodding like an idiot. "So… the weather is starting to get cold… crisp, really…"

Rose sighed and covered her face with her hands, shaking her head. "Are we really going to talk about _weather, _Scorpius?"

"What do you want to talk about, Weasley?" I asked, cringing at my use of her surname. Even though it hurt to use it, it hurt less than calling her by her first name. "You're the one who wrote me, asking me to meet you here. You have to have something that you wanted to say. I wouldn't really say we're the kind of _friends-_" I said the word with malice"_-_that hang out after work."

"Please," Rose said, pinching the bridge of her nose and closing her eyes. "Please, stop. I don't… I don't know. I'm just so tired of this, Scorpius. I'm tired of us not being able to be in the same room without being horribly uncomfortable and I'm tired of Albus being caught between us. I miss him, you have to know that. He chose you… I'm glad he did, but that doesn't mean it doesn't make me sad. I'm tired of Dominique feeling awkward about being friends with you. I'm tired of having to watch what I say around Teddy because I know you're friends with him. I'm tired of Lysander being worried about me because I'm sad. I'm just tired of this. It has to stop, Scorpius."

And just like that, I was pulled under her spell. I lost control over myself, and I was like mush. It took everything for me not to get up from my booth and slip into hers. I literally had to grab a hold of the table to keep myself from moving. I missed her so much it hurt. I wanted to be able to touch her again, to kiss her again, to talk to her again. I wanted to be able to be that rock in her life again… I wanted to the one to stop whatever pain she was going through. She deserved to be happy. I didn't know if I would make her happy, but I'd definitely try. I shook my head. She broke up with me. Obviously, I didn't make her happy.

I pulled myself out of those thoughts. She was waiting for me to reply to what she had said. Part of me _-_ the part of me that I still had control over _-_ knew that she was right. We had to stop this. It wasn't fair to Albus or Dominique. The two of them had made it very clear that they were going to help catch Alex, and all Rose and I were doing were getting caught up in our own personal drama. This _had _to stop.

"I know," I finally sighed. "I _know. _You think I don't? Albus is fucking miserable. Don't think he doesn't miss you too," I told her sincerely, finally voicing my thoughts about Albus for the first time. I didn't think much about it, but I guessed that Albus was having such a hard time with the whole situation with his father because he didn't have Rose to talk to. He knew he could talk to me about it, but I had a feeling that I didn't _want _to. He and Rose had a connection, which I understood. There were some things you just couldn't talk about with certain people and with other people you could.

Rose shrugged. "I worry about him… But he has you," she said simply. "I know he's okay." She changed the subject before I registered that she had complimented me. "Anyway," she said briskly, all business now. "I think we should just start fresh. A clean slate. I don't think there's any other way for us do it. But not the kind of clean slate where we act like we never knew each other. It's obvious we have a history, so we can't just pretend that that's not there. But we'll push all this confusion and anger with each other away and start again."

_Easy for you to say, _I wanted to say, but I nodded. "Right. We need to stop being so fucking selfish all the time."

Rose giggled and I smirked. Maybe this would be easier than I thought it would be… or not.

…

"So… the ring," Rose said, gripping her coffee that we got from a muggle coffee shop in her hands. The two of us had decided to leave the Leaky Cauldron and walk around London. Mainly because I was too paranoid to talk about Alex in one place for too long, but I didn't tell _her _that when I suggested we leave. I wanted her to feel safe around me, and starting to get all antsy because I felt like I was being watched _was _not the way to make her feel safe. "You found it on your mother's jewelry box, and you never saw it before?"

"I know," I said, nodding, casually stepping away from her. I had closed the gap between the two of us for the fourth time since we had walked out of the Leaky Cauldron. I supposed it was out of habit from when the two of us were together. _I _didn't mind it, but I didn't want her to be uncomfortable. "It _is_ suspicious. Albus and I were thinking about going and questioning the house elves, but we decided to wait just incase anything else randomly appears. I'm pretty sure it's harmless, but I'm not one hundred percent positive."

"So… you continue to wear it even though it could be harmful?" she asked, biting her lip and slipping her thumbs through the belt loops on her jeans nervously. I gave her a sidelong glace, hoping that only the look told her to back the fuck off. Albus and I knew what we were doing. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" Rose said, raising her hands up in defense. "I just…" She dropped her voice to a whisper and grabbed my elbow, paralyzing me where I stood. "He could be watching… And using the ring to do it isn't _that _unrealistic of a guess." she muttered, glancing around anxiously. "I'm just concerned for you and Albus, alright? Just…" She took a deep breath, dropping whatever she was about to say. "You have protective wards up around your flat, right?"

"Yeah," I answered, reminding myself to make sure those were still intact from the night Albus and I had first moved in. "Don't worry, Weasley," I said, trying to lighten the air. I didn't like it that she was worried. "Albus and I are perfectly safe. And besides, the Malfoy ring adjusts to _only _the finger of a Malfoy. It adjusted to mine, which is why I'm almost certain that there's nothing wrong with it."

Rose exhaled, nodding and letting going of my elbow. She began walking again, and I followed after her. "Alright. I'm sorry that you have to tell me all of this… I mean, obviously, Dominique and I need to know so we can protect ourselves and know what's coming… But I bet it's hard to talk about considering the… circumstances."

I winced, hopefully not noticeably. "It's fine. You need to know. Dominique needs to know. We're all in this together, and… Well, you know what I mean. Even if we don't like it, we have to stick together at least until this whole ordeal is over with."

Rose was quiet. I looked at her.

"Right?" I prompted.

"Oh… er… right. Yeah. Sorry. Distracted." _That _was odd. Rose was completely involved in the conversation only seconds before. How did she get that easily distracted? I analyzed her carefully. Her eyes were suddenly guarded. Her posture had changed; her back was now stiff as a board and her "casual" movements were forced. This reminded me of something… someone…

Myself.

When I had first came back to school after my father's death, the strangest things would set me off. Rose seemed to be keeping her composure a lot better than I did, since I had had full blown anxiety attacks… but still. Rose would good at covering things up. She could be dying inside at that very moment. But… _why? _Yes, Alex had tortured her in the caves. He had broken her leg and held a knife to her neck. But in all honesty, that wasn't _that _bad compared to things that he could have done to her.

Just as I was about to ask her if she was alright, she stopped abruptly in her tracks. "Listen," she said quickly, "I have to go. But it was really good getting things settled and I hope that things are _too _awkward the next time we meet. Which will be tomorrow morning at training, but still. But thanks. I'll see you later." With that, she all but ran in the direct we had came from.

I stared after her, very confused and very worried. She had said it was good getting things "settled," but why did I feel like we had left things more unsettled than they were before?

I continued to watch her until she reached the very end of the block and turned the corner. What was _wrong _with her? Was she sick? I ran a hand through my hair and sat down on a bench that was on the edge of a sidewalk. I had to find out what was going on with her. I also had to figure out her feelings about me. She had sent some mixed signals. At some points of our conversations, I thought maybe she was on the verge of flirting… But then when she would randomly switch to her oddly formal way of speaking, my thoughts of her flirting were squashed.

I groaned, startling some muggles that were walking past me. What the hell was I supposed to do? I wanted her back so bad, but these mixed signals were making me so confused I could hurl. I wasn't only confused, though… I was disappointed in myself. I knew I still loved her, but how could I be _this much _in love with her after nearly three years of being apart? She was the only one for me, as disgusting as that sounded. I couldn't deny it, though. My mind knew that she was the one and only, and that I'd never find anyone like her. These thoughts made my Malfoy confidence kick in.

I _would _get her back.

**A/N:**

**Dear God. Scorpius is MOTIVATED. Haha.**

**Anyways. That took awhile. I'm tired of his wallowing-in-self-pity attitude. We need his Malfoyness now, or all we'll get is awkward conversations and weird stares. **

**So. A few things. Did you guys notice we hit 400 reviews last chapter? ALREADY? You guys are seriously amazing, and I love you. I remember when I was writing Fanfiction like three years ago and nobody would think twice about clicking on my stories. **

**I was wondering if you guys wanted chapter 13 to be this exact chapter, only in Rose's POV? I'm not really one for rewriting in different POVs. It's not because I don't like doing it, it's just that I feel like I'm using it as a crutch or something. I feel like I'm cheating. Haha. But Rose POV next chapter PROBABLY, and if you want this chapter in her POV let me know. I'll do it depending on the number of you who say you want it.**

**OH. And so there was a song at the beginning of this chapter. Yeah. Great band, in my opinion. Their songs will probably be in front of a lot of chapters, considering their new album is coming out in the next few months I'll have lots of new songs for inspiration… Check 'em out. The lead singer is GORGEOUS. I fangirl over him regularly…and I'm not really one for fangirling. **

**Comments, favorite moments, quotes, predictions? Let me know! **

_**Reviews make an Alex clue-hint-thingy appear sometime soon! ;)**_

**Written,**

**Anonymous;)**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Thirteen:**

**Rose Weasley:**

I sat straight up in my bed.

There was someone in the flat. I had only heard a single creak, but that was enough to send me into panic mode. My entire body tensed up and my throat closed up. Dominique was in bed, I knew that for a fact. I saw her go into her room before I went into my own, and if she had decided to come out I would have heard her open her door. Someone was here… and it wasn't anybody that I trusted.

My first instinct was to scream, but I knew that wouldn't do me any good. If I screamed, I'd probably get myself killed. Careful not to make my bed squeak, I reached over to my bedside table, looking for my wand. All I got was air. It wasn't there. I patted my hand around the table, desperate to find it. Nothing. _I was unarmed. _Someone had taken it. Someone had come into my room and taken my wand from right beside me.

Alex could be in my flat at that very moment. He could have been standing at my bedside, only moments prior, taking my wand. Bile rose in my throat at the thought of this. He… he could have _touched _me. No, no… I would have woken up. I was too much of a light sleeper for that. But that didn't mean he couldn't have came into my room. I left my door open at night. It wouldn't have been hard for him to walk silently into my room and take my wand. But… _why? _

The obvious, of course. To kill me or to question me. Or both. But what kind of wizard didn't have the guts to fight an armed witch? From what Scorpius had told me about Alex, the two of them were a lot alike when it came to fighting; they had been best friends after all. But Scorpius would _never _leave a witch unarmed if he had to fight one. It was showing that you were weak, that you didn't think you could take on the other person without having an advantage. All someone was doing if they took another's wand was degrading themselves.

Suddenly, there was a crash and then the sound of glass breaking. Part of me was relieved, because it was loud enough to wake up Dominique. The other part of me was angry because now they'd probably disapparate and I wouldn't be able to find out who it actually was. I figured that the damage was done, and so when I heard Dominique's door _swish _open, I jumped out of bed and ran out into the hallway. Dominique and I exchanged a quick glance before running down the hallway and then coming to a dead stop once we got to the kitchen entrance. There, it's back to us, was an ancient house elf, staring at a broken tea pot that had been sitting on the counter and was now in pieces on the floor.

Silently, Dominique stepped over to the couch and picked up a throw pillow. She held her finger to her mouth, telling me to stay quiet, and grabbed at the collar of her shirt. I was momentarily confused, but soon realized that she wanted me to grab the house elf while she held the pillow over his face. I nodded. I held up my fingers and counted to three.

_1... 2... 3..._

The two of leapt across the kitchen. I grabbed the house elf by the arm and held him down to the ground before Dominique shoved the pillow onto his face with a bone-crushing force. The house elf struggled relentlessly as Dominique pulled her wand out of her bra - so _classy _- and shouted, "_Incarcerous!_" Ropes shot out of her wand and wrapped themselves around the house elf, who was now struggling more than ever.

"Damn it," Dominique said through her teeth. "He'll disapparate if one of us lets go of him."

The house elf screamed into the pillow, which I was now holding over his face. "We need to question him," I told her. "Should we at least look at his face to make sure this isn't a house elf we _know?_" I suddenly felt horrible. What if this was _Scorpius's _house elf? I knew for a fact he and his elf were close. But would Scorpius send Verney here in the middle of the night to steal my wand? No. He wouldn't. But…

I gasped.

I ripped the pillow off of the house elf's face. "Are you working for Alex?" I demanded. "Are you here for him?"

A creepy smile slowly lit up the elf's face. "I am here to deliver a message for Sir Andre, miss."

…

I opened the door to our flat and Scorpius and Albus strode in. They both looked as if they had just tumbled out of bed, threw on pants and a shirt, and apparated to our flat the moment we had sent our patronus. As soon as Scorpius walked past me, I was hit with the smell of smoke. I swallowed before closing the door and locking it behind them.

"Where is he?" Scorpius snarled. "Where is that little bastard?"

"We took him into the spare room," I said quickly, leading the two of them down the hallway and to the very last room of our flat, where I heard Dominique exclaiming how gross the house elf was. I could here it's unnervingly slow voice as we got closer and closer to the bedroom, and once we walked into the room, it all happened very fast.

Scorpius leapt across the room to the wall where Dominique was holding the elf. He wrapped his hand around it's tiny neck and shoved it higher up against the wall. He looked completely _livid _as he stared at the house elf. A vein was pulsing in his forehead and all the veins in his arms protruded because of how tight his grip was around the elf's neck. "What does he want?" he said, his voice, despite his outward demeanor, eerily calm. "Tell us what he wants and we won't kill you."

"Scorp, mate, c'mon-" Albus said, stepping forward, looking thoroughly worried for his friend.

"Don't fucking touch me, Albus," Scorpius said quietly. "I don't want to punch you."

Albus stopped abruptly, then backed away. He looked at me, as if to say, _Do something! _

I bit my lip nervously, unsure of what I could do to stop him. When Scorpius got angry there was nothing I could do to but let his temper run it's course. My touch had been able to calm him before, but it wasn't my place to touch him anymore.

"_Damn it!" _Scorpius roared, his entire body now shaking. "Where the hell is he? Why did he send _you _to do his dirty work?" As Scorpius screamed at the elf, the elf's face broke out into a horribly crooked grin and he started laughing breathlessly, his airways cut off because of Scorpius's hand around his throat. "_Stop laughing at me!_" Scorpius said, tightening his wrist around the elf's throat.

"Oh," the elf croaked, and when Scorpius saw that he was going to talk he loosened his grip slightly. "Oh, how you've grown, Scorpius… I remember when you were just a baby. Only weeks old. Smart little thing, you were. You hated me. Must have good intuition." The elf laughed wildly.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Scorpius said, his anger seeming to falter.

"I wouldn't have expected your father to tell you about me," the elf said airily. "Probably didn't think I mattered. I was just an _elf _after all… He had dozens of them. It didn't matter that he accidentally freed me. Oh, if he only knew… If he only knew…"

My heart hammered against my chest as I saw Scorpius's confusion turn to pure sadness. "You… you _worked _for my father? You were his slave? But then you helped _kill _him? You're working for his murderer? My father _never _treated _any _of his house elves badly! You demented little bastard!"

"You don't know what he used to be. You're father was a disgusting man." This is when I knew things would get bad. Scorpius drew in a sharp breath and his teeth clenched together with a _snap. _I resisted the urge to throw myself at him, and be him not to do what I knew he was going to do.

"You didn't know him," Scorpius sneered, his eyes empty of all emotions. _Numb. _

"I knew him since he was born. When he was a child he would torture the elves. You could say he was only a toddler, that he didn't know any better… But he knew." The elf's eyes had a far away look in them now. "The night before his first night at Hogwarts his begged his father to let him bring one of us to do his school work. When his father refused, he broke my leg. He was a cruel, horrible person from the moment he was born-"

Scorpius's fist snapped back and the flew forward, right into the elf's nose.

Then, Scorpius was thrown backwards by an invisible force. He hit the wall across the room and fell to the ground. I screamed. Dominique's face paled. Albus swore. "I wondered when he'd do something like that," Albus mumbled, not seeming to think holding the elf down would do any good since we knew what he could do.

I stared at Scorpius's crumpled figure on the ground, shocked. I had never seen Scorpius so easily thrown around… It's not that he was big. He was the complete opposite, really. But I had always imagined him physically indestructible. He always held himself in a way that said he was invincible, inside and out. Obviously, I knew he wasn't invincible on the inside. But I had always thought he would win every fight he was in, every act of violence he committed.

Slowly, he got to his feet. He leaned awkwardly against the wall and looked at me. It had been a month since I had really spoken to him, which was when we had met at the Leaky Cauldron. It wasn't that I was avoiding him… I just didn't know what to say to him. I had pretty much ran away from him for no reason. Well, to him it probably looked like no reason. I had suddenly felt really paranoid that the we were being watched. I could have told him… but I didn't. I couldn't bare to have him question me. I had ran from the problem, like I seemed to be doing so much lately.

"You know why he's here?" he asked me breathlessly, wincing as gripped his arm in pain. "You said in the…" He took a deep breath, and then groaned. "My shoulder is screwed up. Damn it," he mumbled, then shook his head. "Stop looking at me like that, Weasley, I'm fine… Tell me what he said. You said he was here to deliver a message for Alex?"

"Er, y- yeah," I stuttered, nodding and looking over at the elf. He was stilled tied up, though I had a feeling he could easily untie himself with his weird elf magic. But as I stared at him in horror, I then realized something crucial. I had been so shocked since the moment we found out he worked for Alex that I hadn't realized this was the first time he was communicating with us in almost three years. I swallowed and had to grab onto the wall for support.

"What's your message?" Dominique said cautiously, careful not to step closer to him as she picked up Scorpius's wand - which had fallen out of his back pocket when he was thrown across the room - and handed it to him. "What does Alex want us to know?"

"Untie me, my sweet, and I'll tell you," the elf said, his voice soft.

Dominique glanced anxiously at Albus, who nodded. "_Diffindo,_" she said firmly. An invisible knife cut through the robes and unraveled from around the elf. Then, Dominique shrieked. Albus began jerking around wildly, but it seemed as if he was unable to move from his standing position. Scorpius roared in rage, obviously unable to move too. I was the only one that could move freely. My breathing came raggedly as I realized nobody could help me. I was wandless. I was vulnerable and there was an extremely powerful house elf right in front of me.

He walked slowly across the room. I was too terrified to move.

"Don't touch her!" Scorpius yelled. "I swear to Merlin, elf, if you lay one hand on her-"

"Quiet, Scorpius," the elf said. "All you're doing is making it worse for yourself." Finally, the elf got to me. He pulled a piece of parchment and my wand out of his filthy potato sack dress. Slowly, the house elf hooked his finger on the collar of my shirt and pulled it forward. I felt dizzy. I could vaguely hear Scorpius shouting murderously at the top of his lungs. I could hear Albus grunting against the force of the odd body binding curse, desperate to free himself so he could help me. It seemed like slow motion, but the house elf slipped the piece of paper down my shirt and into the sports bra that I slept in at night. "He can't wait to see you," the house elf whispered creepily, handing me my wand.

He disapparated.

As soon as he was gone, Scorpius, Dominique, and Albus were all released from the spell. I had practically been molested by a house elf. What… what the hell? Memories tumbled into my mind, despite my attempts to block them out. Alex, his hands stroking my face. His hands running through my hair. His hands sliding up my torso. His hands slipping down…

"I… Oh, _no,_" I breathed. I jumped up, gasping. I ran out of the bedroom and into Dominique's bathroom, which was placed right between her room and the spare room. Dropping to my knees, I puked up everything I had in me into the toilet. Moments later, Dominique was in the bathroom pulling my hair out of my face and resting her hand on my shoulder. Albus was barking off orders to Scorpius and Dominique, telling them to send a patronus to Teddy as soon as possible and whatever they do not to tell his dad yet.

My body continued to dry heave as I sobbed into Dominique's shoulder. I looked up at Scorpius, who was leaning against the doorjamb, his arms across his chest. Surprisingly, seeing him didn't make me feel any better. It made my body _physically _ache to look at him. I wanted him to be the one comforting me, not my best friend. I wanted _him _to hold my hair back. I wanted _him _to hold me. I wanted _him _to be the one I was leaning into at that moment.

"It's okay," Dominique said softly. "It's okay." She looked up at Scorpius. "I'm going to get her in the shower," she said. "I think you should probably take the note and read it."

"_No!_" I shrieked, my entire body going cold. What if it said something about what happened in the caves? Scorpius could _not _find out about that… No, he could never find out about it. "No, he can't read it. Not yet… It's for me! I have to read it first."

"Okay, okay!" Dominique said, alarmed. "I didn't think you'd want to read it…"

"Get out," I said, getting shakily to my feet. "Both of you. I don't need help showering, Dominique. I've got it covered." She looked offended. "Thank you, though," I added quickly. "I'll bring the note out in a few minutes."

Dominique nodded and stood up. She walked over to the door and grabbed Scorpius's wrist. Just as she pulled him away, he looked at me one last time before leaving with her. I didn't know what it meant. I didn't understand. Was it concern? Probably. But there was something else… Something much _more _than that.

I shook my head. I couldn't let that distract me. I would think about Scorpius later.

I turned the shower on before pulling off my shirt. I took a deep breath and took the piece of parchment out of my bra. There was so many emotions running though my mind as I unfolded it that I couldn't distinguish one emotion from another. All I knew was that none of the feelings were good. They were all terrible. Finally, I forced myself to read the parchment.

_Rose,_

_Careful now, love. _

_Remember what I said to you in the last letter I sent you? I told you to break it off with him, or a pureblood would die, along with the rest of your family. My sources say that the two of you are on good terms again. Don't get too close to dear Scorpius, Rose, darling. I warned you I'd be watching._

_I'll see you soon._

_Forever yours,_

_A.W.S_

I heart was beating too fast. My breath was coming in pants. I had to show the note to everyone… How was I going to explain this?

**A/N:**

**Perverted house elves FTW. Just kidding. Alex told him to… I think. ;)**

**But anyway. I like this chapter pretty well, I guess. I'm ready for some Alex action and stuff. Really tired so not really a long A/N. **

**- Scorp's reaction to the letter?**

**- Your thoughts on a freed Malfoy house elf turning into horrible evil weird things?**

**- Anything else?**

**Quotes, moments, you know the deal, etc.**

_**Reviews make stuff happen. You know. This "Reviews make" thing is getting old.**_

**Written,**

**Anonymous;)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Fourteen:**

**Scorpius Malfoy:**

"Where is she?" Teddy asked, rubbing his eyes. We had sent him a patronus, telling him to get his ass to Rose and Dominique's flat as soon as possible. It had taken him about five minutes to get here. Victoire probably thrown a fit since we hadn't said what had happened in the patronus in fear of her hearing it. Victoire was lovely and all, but she was prone to overreaction. We didn't need her to go and tell the family that Rose was nearly raped by Alex's house elf.

"She's in the shower," Dominique said, flipping on the kitchen light. "Well, actually, she's probably not really taking a shower. She's probably just reading the note."

Teddy raised an eyebrow. "Do you think it was a good idea to leave her alone?" he asked carefully, glancing anxiously in the direction of the bathroom. "You know… after what happened?" We had explained it to him hastily once he got here, only slowing down when he asked questions. He had insisted on sending a patronus to River, but Dominique all but begged him not to. I wondered what had happened between the two of them when we were at the Burrow a month ago. River had been absent from training for about a week, and when he came back he was nothing but a tough-love instructor. He didn't treat us like we were his friends anymore, only his students.

"I think she's fine," Albus said, not making eye contact with Teddy. "She was sick, but I think she's fine now."

I didn't want to leave Rose alone. I knew it wasn't a good idea to leave her alone. But what was I going to do? Stand in the bathroom while she was supposed to be taking a shower? Once I saw the house elf slip it's disgusting little hand down her shirt I developed a strong feeling that something bad had happened in the caves. Worse than I had thought, anyway. I didn't want to think about it, but I couldn't _not _think about it. Did Alex… did he _touch _her? Like, actually _touch _her? Not in a violent sort of way, but in a sexual sort of way?

No, Alex wouldn't do that… would he? Though Alex wasn't who I had thought he was my entire life, I didn't think he was a rapist. Who would have taught him to be one? Not his father, surely. Shroudrouge was a terrible man, but I never took him as sexual predator. Alex was his father's minion and Shroudrouge wouldn't have taught him to rape girls. That was just… beyond horrible.

"Albus-" Teddy began tiredly, but Albus cut him off.

"She's _fine, _Teddy," Albus snapped. "I wouldn't leave her alone if I didn't think she was."

Dominique sighed, rolling her eyes. "Can we push our daddy issues aside, please?" she asked. Albus looked like she had slapped him, but Teddy nodded, agreeing. I watched as Dominique sarcastically thanked them and pulled a tea kettle out of the cabinets. She was wearing long sleeves, which was not something Dominique usually did. Now _I _sighed. I was going to have to talk to her again and figure out what the hell happened between her and River.

I felt oddly calm. I didn't know why. I had just witnessed probably one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen - aside from my father's death, of course - and I felt relaxed. Was I feeling too many emotions to tell one from another? Or was I just shocked? I didn't know, but I hoped it would go away soon. I'd rather know what I was feeling rather than not have any idea, even if the feelings were bad.

"Scorpius," Teddy began. "You're _sure _the elf was Alex's?"

"Yes," I answered instantly. "He wasn't one of _mine, _obviously. Plus, when Shroudrouge and Alex attacked us back in sixth year they summoned their house elf to disapparate away with Alex since he wasn't of age." They called it Abner. I didn't think that Alex would have used the damn house elf to do his dirty work, but I understood why he did. The house elf was powerful, more powerful than any other house elf I had ever met. _Note to self: Question Verney about Abner. _

"Right," Teddy said, nodding. "Do you know how Alex got control over this house elf?"

"I'm under the impression that he didn't. That the house elf purposely put himself under Alex's control," I told him. "Alex is a muggleborn, as you know, and most house elves hate muggleborns. But Abner - the elf's name- must want revenge on our family. These are just my assumptions, so don't take any word I say too seriously."

Then, someone cleared their throat.

Albus, Teddy, Dominique, and I looked to see Rose standing in the entry-way of the kitchen, her hair knotted on top of her head and her shoulders still dotted with water droplets from her shower. She held the note in her quivering right hand and stared directly at me. "I…" she whispered hoarsely. "I think you should read this." I raised an eyebrow and stepped forward to take the note from her. I held out my hand. Slowly, she placed the note in my hand, her hand shaking so hard that I had the urge to close my fingers around her fist just to make it stop. She was making me nervous. What could be so bad that had her like _this? _I'd never seen Rose so worried. She was _terrified _of what was written on the piece of parchment… Which confused me. I knew from a few things that Albus had said that Harry had always taught them to be afraid of the actual _problem, _not pieces of it.

Expressionless, I unfolded the note and began to read.

_Rose,_

_Careful now, love. _

_Remember what I said to you in the last letter I sent you? I told you to break it off with him, or a pureblood would die, along with the rest of your family. My sources say that the two of you are on good terms again. Don't get too close to dear Scorpius, Rose, darling. I warned you I'd be watching._

_I'll see you soon._

_Forever yours,_

_A.W.S_

I had to read it twice. I felt like I was falling. I didn't know what to do. I definitely didn't know how to respond to this. There had been another letter? Alex had told her to break up with me? He threatened to kill a pureblood and her entire family if she didn't break up with me. Why didn't she tell me? We could have fixed it… I didn't know how, but we could have. I felt like I was going to puke. I couldn't believe this. Part of me was filled with joy. She had to have still cared about me when she broke up with me, since Alex told her to do it. It wasn't her choice to break up with me… She felt obligated to. But, the other part of me was overflowing with rage. I couldn't even form coherent thoughts. I was seeing red. Obviously, the rage trumped the joy.

"What the fuck is this?" I asked, my voice snapping like a whip throughout the room.

"I…" Rose was hyperventilating. "Scorpius- I-" She looked like she was going to be sick again. "I can't do this… I can't do this," she muttered to herself. I stared at her incredulously as she hurried out of the kitchen, through the living room, and out the front door. I crumpled the letter in my hand and nearly sprinted after her. She was _not _going to run from this. She was going to tell me what had happened, even if I had to force it out of her.

Once I flung open the door, I found her leaning over the railing that led to the stairs of her second story flat, gripping at the roots of her hair. Rain had began to pour down in buckets and she was already soaking wet. I momentarily felt bad. She looked so scared… I vaguely wondered if it was _me _she was afraid of. At this moment, probably. As she should be. "What is this?" I asked, my voice just loud enough for her to hear me over the rain.

She shook her head, tears streaming down her face. She wouldn't look at me.

"Tell me what it is or I'll force it out of you," I threatened darkly. "I don't care what I have to do."

Rose continued to ignore me. Not this again… _Not _this again. My anger flared up so fast that I reacted without thinking. I grabbed her wrist and ripped it from where it was in her hair and flung her against the wall beside the door with a force that was probably too rough for man to use on a woman. I held up the crumpled letter with my other hand, not caring if she was completely terrified of me at that moment. "Tell me what this is!" I shouted desperately.

She began to cry harder, so hard that she couldn't hold herself up. She slid down the wall awkwardly, since my fingers were still wrapped around her wrist. She shook her head, indicating that she couldn't speak through the tears. "Scorpius-" she managed to choke. "Please… _please _forgive me."

"What do you _mean?_" I asked frantically. "Rose, _please, _I don't understand… Tell me what this is!" I wasn't angry anymore. Though I was horrified and disgusted and confused, I was also… _hopeful. _What did this mean? Alex had told her to break up with me? Did that mean she still cared about me when she and told me we couldn't be together anymore? Did that mean she still cared about me now?I gripped her wrist so hard in my hand that I worried I was cutting off her circulation… But oddly, I couldn't get myself to let go. I _needed _to be in physical contact with her.

"_I can't tell you!_" she yelled hysterically in my face. "You don't understand! I can't!"

"Why _not?_" I demanded, tightening my grip on her wrist. I dropped my voice to a whisper and asked the question that had been nagging at my brain for weeks. "What did he do to you?"

I didn't know if I was in denial that something _more _could have gone on in the caves with Rose and Alex or if I truthfully wasn't sure. I knew that even if something happened between the two of them, she wouldn't tell me. But it could hurt asking. Well… it couldn't hurt _me. _Apparently, it hurt Rose. A lot.

She closed her eyes and covered her face with the hand that I didn't have trapped in mine. I watched her carefully. She having a nervous breakdown, I gathered that almost instantly. I could see just by how she practically went into fetal position that she was so scared and worried and knowing Rose, probably angry with herself for being so weak. "I'm sorry," she said hoarsely. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you."

"Alright," I said, much more casually than I should of. I stood up, hauling her to her feet with me. "If you can't tell _me, _the person who practically killed himself over trying to figure out who was after you, the person who went through _hell _to get you back after you had been kidnapped, _fine. _But I hope you know that you're giving us a reason not to catch Alex as fast." I paused, hoping to get a response. I didn't, so I continued. "And, Rose," I said quietly, "I _will _find out what happened down there."

…

I rolled over uncomfortably on the carpeted floor in Rose and Dominique's living room. Teddy had suggested that Albus and I stay here for the rest of the night, just incase there was anymore unexpected visitors. I agreed with him whole-heartedly, but that didn't exactly mean I _wanted _to be there after Rose and I were done talking.

The two of us had gone back inside shortly after I told her I would find out what had happened. I explained briefly to the other what the note said, and told them that I'd question Verney about Abner, maybe even have him do some secret investigating for me, though I'd prefer he didn't. I didn't want to put Verney in any unnecessary danger. Teddy had listened and said he'd relay the facts to River, before saying that if he didn't get back to Victoire she'd probably call Harry and Ginny, asking if they had seen him and that wouldn't be good.

Rose had mumbled something about going to bed right after Teddy had left, and Dominique followed shortly after her. Albus and I had raided their linen closet and taken two of the three blankets that were folded in it. As we did this, I gave Albus more details pertaining to mine and Rose's conversation. He seemed _really _concerned, and it kind of scared me. Now I was laying on the floor and Albus was laying on the couch next to me. The two of us laid in companionable silence. At least until Albus asked quietly, "Do you think he raped her?"

I nearly choked on the spit that I was swallowing. "_What?_" I asked, hoping that I had heard him wrong.

"You know," Albus whispered, "it wouldn't be that unrealistic. He was a creep." I could almost hear Albus shudder. "I can't believe he spent so much time with my sister… It's disgusting. Then taking Rose down to those caves… _Damn. _I can't believe I didn't think of this before. It's obvious. He raped her," Albus mumbled the last part almost to himself. "That's…" I could hear him swallow. "Merlin, that's below the belt. No wonder she can't tell you what happened. She's traumatized."

I listened in a horrified silence. So, Albus thought so, too. I had thought about the possibility of Alex raping Rose, but I never actually wanting to think of it as a reality. Her virginity was supposed to be _mine. _I didn't mean to sound creepy and possessive, but… Rose and I had kind of agreed that one day, the two of us would have sex. When the time was, right, obviously. Since the two of us had broken up, I assumed that she and Lysander would eventually get around to doing the deed, but then again… I sort of doubted it. I _tried _to assume, I supposed was the right way of putting it. For some reason, deep down, I thought she'd still wait. I don't know what I thought she waiting for, since the two of us had broken up, but still.

Part of me still didn't believe it. I wouldn't believe it until Rose told me that that was the truth, and I didn't want to force it out of her. I didn't know if it was because I was being sensitive, or if it was because I just didn't want to hear the actual truth. I had always seen Rose as such a pure individual, which was part of the reason I was so attracted to her. It's not like after I had sex with her I was going to leave her. Of course not. It would have been different if I was the only one that she had sex with, and I was the one who had taken her virginity. It would have been something special between us, a connection that the two of us would always have.

I covered my face with my hands, resisting the urge to groan. The two of us _already _had a connection that we would always have. Who was I kidding? I was so in love with her that it hurt. I wasn't kidding anybody. Nobody at all.

**A/N:**

**So I didn't think this chapter would be as important as it actually is. **

**Scorpius seems confused. He keeps jumping to the whole "I'll find out what happened" and then to the "I don't want to force it out of her." He'll figure it out soon. I think you guys will really like that moment. Especially the Scorpius fan girls (cringe) that I seem to have… haha. I love the Scorpius fan girls. Because I am one myself, oddly. I feel like he's my son or something because all I write is ScoRose, and it's pretty much all I've ever written... I feel awkward now, so I'm just going to shut up.**

**OH OH OH. OKAY. So, I was sitting here last not, not really feeling like writing. So I posted pictures of who I think the characters look like. I would have drawn them, but it takes me literally weeks to finish a drawing. I just picked out actors and musicians who I think would do the part finely. Go check them out. ****The pictures are on my profile. Copy and paste the link up in the url thing and it'll take you directly to the picture. **

**Done with this A/N. Chapter questions:**

**- What do you think is going to happen when Scorp gets Rose to admit to what happened? His reaction?**

**- Questioning Verney… How do you think that'll go? **

**- Any random predictions that you have?**

**Let me know what you think of the characters and who I think would look like them. I want to know if you guys see them the same way I do. Questions, quotes, comments, concerns? Let me know in the reviews!**

**Promise there will be some River-Dominique action soon. And maybe even some Tempest-Albus. ;) **

_**Reviews make Rose admit to it! Not in the next chapter, probably, but soon! ;) **_

**Written,**

**Anonymous;) (Dear god this was freakishly long A/N) **


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Fifteen:**

_Should've kissed you there _

_I should've held your face _

_I should've watched those eyes _

_Instead of run in place _

_I should've called you out _

_I should've said your name _

_I should've turned around _

_I should've looked again _

_But oh, I'm staring at the mess I made _

_I'm staring at the mess I made _

_I'm staring at the mess I made _

_As you turn, you take your heart and walk away _

_**-Mess I Made; Parachute**_

**Rose Weasley: **

I opened my eyes. Or at least I _tried _to. They were swollen shut from crying so much the night before. I mentally cursed myself for getting so out of control the night before. I had promised myself before I stepped out of the bathroom to give the note to Scorpius that I absolutely would not lose control. I would be fine, and I would answer any questions he asked me as honestly as I could. Obviously, that was not what had happened. Though my breakdown was short, that didn't make it any less revealing. Or humiliating. Scorpius had seen me cry before, but never _that _much. I was mortified.

I sighed and threw my legs over the side of my bed. I didn't think I'd be able to get any sleep once I came back in my room, but surprisingly, I passed out almost as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was so exhausted. Rubbing my eyes tiredly, I stood up and walked into my bathroom, where I brushed my teeth and retied my hair up on top of my head. I walked quietly into the kitchen, and was halfway through filling up a kettle with water when I realized that Scorpius and Albus were sleeping in our living room. Since our living room was in plain view of our kitchen, I could see the two of them. Albus looked messy, as always. One leg hanging off the bed, his mouth lolling open. Scorpius looked clean and put together, even in his sleep. He slept on his back on the floor, the blanket that was once on him tossed to the side, one arm placed carefully over his eyes to block out any light that was coming through the window.

I realized almost instantly that he was paler than usual. I feared that he was having a bad dream, but then I saw that he _wasn't _sleeping. I could tell because he was snapping the nail on his fourth finger with the nail on his thumb. So he must have known I was in the kitchen. Deliberately, I clanked the kettle against the metal faucet on the sink. He sat straight up, instantly alert. "Good morning," I said as casually as I could. I couldn't really act normal, not after the events from the night before.

Scorpius coughed, nodding. "Good morning." He stood up, running a hand through his hair. "Damn. I feel like shit." He looked disoriented as he stared around the living room. It was so _cute. _I loved those rare moments when Scorpius looked completely confused. He got this adorable look on his face where his eyebrows pulled together and his lips turned down into a small frown. "Are you making tea?" he asked, and when I nodded, he grinned. "Excellent."

My heart throbbed. Why did he have to be so perfect?

"I haven't had tea in months," he explained as he came and joined me in the kitchen. He leaned against the counter. Now that he was closer to me, I could see that he wasn't only paler than usual, but the tip of his nose was pink and his breathing seemed to be a little louder than it normally was. "My mum used to make it for me, and well…" He cleared his throat. "She can't anymore. She hasn't for years. So back in June, I tried to make my own and it tasted like ass."

"Hmm," I said, smiling as I set the kettle onto the stove. "Sounds appealing."

"It was until I tasted it," he said. "You know, Weasley," he began, "you could just use magic to heat the-"

"It relaxes me," I told him honestly. "When I was little, my mum taught me how to make tea without magic. You know, since when you're underage you can't use magic. She said that it was good to know how to do things the muggle way. I don't know why it calms me," I said. "But it does. It doesn't really need an excuse right now, does it?"

Scorpius was quiet for a moment. "I suppose not," he finally muttered, then sniffed.

"Are you getting sick?" I asked, opening up the refrigerator and taking out the milk.

"Probably," Scorpius said, watching my every movement like a hawk. It made me feel uncomfortable, but I also thought it was kind of funny. Sometimes I forgot that Scorpius was raised in a world where there was absolutely nothing related to muggles around him. Since my mum was muggleborn, she taught my brother and I how to fend for ourselves without magic. "I slept in wet clothes, so I'm likely to catch something."

I nodded, swallowing. "Right. Sorry. I could have gotten you something."

"Sorry, Weasley, but I don't think we wear the same size."

I rolled my eyes, laughing. "No, I have some stuff of-" I shut up. That was _not _something I needed to say.

Scorpius raised an eyebrow. "Of who's?"

"Nobody's," I said quickly. "No one. Nothing. Forget I said anything."

Scorpius's eyes flashed and his grip on the counter tightened, but he regained his composure almost instantly. "Oh," he said. He smirk seemed forced. "You have some stuff of old Scamander's here, do you?" he asked.

I was quiet, my cheeks flaming red. It wasn't that I was uncomfortable talking about my relationship with Lysander, but I definitely didn't _want _to. Especially with Scorpius. I didn't want to talk to the ex-boyfriend about the current boyfriend.

"How is old Scamander?" Scorpius asked, examining his nails. "Last time I spoke directly to him was when Albus and I went after him to find out if he started that rumor in sixth year. He was scared out of his wits," he added, almost as an after thought.

"Please," I nearly whispered. "Please, let's not do this right now."

"What right now, Rose?" Scorpius asked, his voice suddenly full of agony. "What are we doing?"

I was surprised that things could go from fairly decent to completely horrible in less than a few seconds. _Why _did this always happen now? Why is it when Scorpius and I were getting along perfectly fine - even enjoying each other's company - that something like this had to come between us? Whether it was Alex or something simple like my relationship with Lysander Scamander, why did something always have to ruin it? "You know perfectly well what we're doing, Scorpius," I said, finally meeting his eyes. "We can't keep doing this to each other forever."

When Scorpius spoke, his voice was rough. "What? What are we doing? Please, enlighten me, because I have no clue what the hell you're talking about. All I can gather is that we were having a perfectly nice conversation, you let slip that you keep some of Scamander's - _Scamander _for Merlin's sake - clothes, and I got jealous." He was standing very close to me now. I could feel his body heat. He was unnaturally warm, so I assumed he was running a fever. He didn't seem to care. "I'm sorry I can't _stop _being jealous, Rose. It's a natural thing. I can't help it. I'm a Malfoy. We get defensive over things that we want _ours._"

All of my breath was sucked out of me. Did he just say what I thought he said?

"There," he breathed, his face alarmingly close to mine, his silver eyes blazing. "I admit it. I'm jealous. I'm jealous like you were when you found out I had slept with Fate Brown before the two of us began seeing each other. I'm so jealous that I can hardly contain myself. When I see you with Lysander Scamander all I can think about is strangling the living hell out of him. I can't _help _it." Now my eyes weren't staring into his, but they were looking at his lips. I wanted to kiss him. Scorpius continued talking. "Even if I could help it, I wouldn't want to. Do you know why? _Do you?_"

I shook my head slightly, finally dragging my eyes up to meet his.

"Because even though it's jealously, at least I'm feeling _something._"

I inhaled sharply and looked down at the ground, not able to look him the eyes. Did that mean he still had feelings for me? After two - almost three - entire years of being broken up, did he still have feelings for me? After all I put him through, after last night, did he still think of me than something more than just _Rose Weasley_, his best mate's cousin, his ex-girlfriend?

I looked back up to see that he was now staring at my lips, the same way I was staring at his only moments prior. Slowly, the two of us leaned in toward each other, the only sound in the room was our breathing. Our lips got closer and closer, they were only centimeters away-

The kettle began to whistle.

Scorpius jumped away, momentarily surprised. I hurried to the kettle just as Albus sat up. "Damn," he said, "that thing is fucking _loud. _Have you ever thought about putting a silencing charm on it?"

…

I felt antisocial.

Dominique had dragged me to Scorpius and Albus's flat that night so we could "hang out" with their crew of friends. I didn't know why Dominique suddenly felt the desire to get to know them better, but I had a feeling it had to do with making River jealous. She was flirting unashamedly with Jayden Bones, while Scorpius and Reece Longbottom poured firewhisky on the crotch of Albus's pants. This all occurred while I sat all alone in the corner of their flat.

I would have probably acted a little more sociable if Scorpius and I hadn't had that conversation that morning. Was it even a conversation? Or was it an argument? No, it wasn't anything _bad. _Maybe "confession" would be the right word. I didn't know whether to be sad or happy about Scorpius's confession. Those were the two emotions I seemed to be struggling with so much lately. Sadness or happiness. Part of me was sad that I couldn't be with Scorpius. Not only because Alex threatened me, but because I _couldn't _be with Scorpius. I was ashamed after what had happened in the caves. Scorpius wanted me because I was pure. He thought I was beautiful because after the two of us had sex, I'd always be completely and fully _his. _

If he found out what Alex had done to me, he wouldn't think of me the same. He wouldn't love me anymore, because I wouldn't be what he thought I was. I'd be dirty to him, especially since it was forced upon me. I swallowed and looked out the window. The sun was just beginning to go down, and drops of rain were hitting the streets of London at a surprising speed. I had a feeling Dominique and I would be here all night, since it was Friday and we didn't have training in the morning. I nearly groaned. I did _not _want to stay out and party all night with Scorpius and Albus's posse.

I sighed, and pulled my legs up underneath me. I stared at Albus and Scorpius's ratty couch, wondering if the room was quiet enough to fall asleep. As soon as those thoughts crossed my mind, the unmistakable shriek of Fate Brown filled the room. My head whipped around and I saw her standing at the door with two other girls with her, her arms held out wide like the Earth spun for her. Several of the boys in the room let out a round "oooh!" as she walked and smiled dazzlingly around.

I felt like an idiot. Of _course _Fate Brown would show up. Just brilliant, just bloody brilliant. I watched, unsurprised, as that bitch swaggered over to Scorpius, who was already drunk out of his mind. He smiled sloppily at her, reaching for a half full cup of whisky on the counter and handing it to her. I knew Scorpius got damn near incoherent when he was drunk. No, scratch that. Not _near _incoherent. _Completely _incoherent. He was stupid when he was drunk, so I didn't really blame it on him for being nice to Fate. But I blamed Fate for taking advantage of him.

Throughout the night, people continued to filter into Albus and Scorpius's flat, and Scorpius and Fate continued to get drunker and more… _intimate _with each other. As this happened, I continued to get sicker to my stomach due to rage and sadness. Slowly, my acceptance towards Scorpius's drunk state began lowering until it was finally completely gone. How could he have gotten so drunk? Didn't he have any self respect? He looked like an idiot. Eyelids drooping, body movements turning from graceful to just clumsy.

Everyone was getting drunk. Dominique got really giggly when she was drunk, so I could easily find her in the crowd. She was hanging on to Jayden Bones's elbow as he smirked drunkenly at her. Albus was shouting things about how his birthday was next weekend - which it was - and how everyone was going out to the wizard nightclub on Diagon Alley. He claimed he would rent it out, and I didn't doubt that he would. I wondered how many people would show up to _that _get together.

After about another hour, I stood up, determined to get out of there. Just as I began weaving through the crowd to get to Dominique so I could take her home, for some reason my eyes landed on Fate and Scorpius again. I gaped.

There they were, standing in the kitchen, locked in a close embrace. Scorpius held her tightly, his hand buried in the hair on the back of her head, holding her face closer to his. Fate nearly had her legs wrapped around his waist as she kissed him, her hands stroking his face and then getting tangled in his hair. As she moved her lips down his neck and the sucking of what I could only assume would be many hickies, Scorpius opened his eyes slowly. Then, realization seemed to dawn on him. His eyes widened when he saw me staring at him, and he shoved Fate away. He didn't _completely _snap out of his drunken state, I could tell because he stumbled when he pushed Fate away and had to grab onto the counter for support.

He called my name, but I didn't care. I was already pushing my way through the crowds of people, not caring who I accidentally shoved to the ground in the process.

How could he? _How? _He had just got done telling me that morning that he wanted me! A sob rose in my throat as I got near the door. I realized that I _had _begun to get hopeful that he would still love me even after what happened in the caves. I _was _happy that he admitted to still wanting me. But all of that was thrown out the window now that I saw what happened. Even though he was drunk, he still should have had enough sense to throw Fate off of him the moment she began to touch him.

I threw open the door and began running down the steps that led to the sidewalk of London. I could hear Scorpius calling my name as he followed after me. I wasn't drunk, therefore, I could run faster than he could. But, eventually, the sobs raking through my body were too much and I had to stop.

When he had reached me, he put both his hands on my shoulders, but I pushed them away. "Don't touch me, Scorpius!" I gasped.

"Rose-" Scorpius began, his gorgeous eyes so pained that my chest hurt when I looked into them.

"_Don't touch me!_" I shrieked, pushing him away once more, and went to turn away from him. I couldn't look at him in that moment. No, I couldn't look at him at all. He lied to me. He had destroyed my trust in him. He said he still wanted me, that he was so jealous of Lysander Scamander, but yet he still went and kissed Fate Brown in front of me. I whipped back around to face him, deciding I'd better say what I wanted to say then. "Is this your way of getting back at me?" I demanded, the tears rolling down my face mixed with the rain falling from the sky.

Scorpius stared at me, horrified. Scorpius was rarely speechless, but this was one of those occasions.

"If it is, I hope you know that you disgust me," I said, my voice getting cut off at the end from a sob. With that, I spun on my heel and ran down the London sidewalk. Scorpius didn't follow after me. He stood right where I left him, staring after me as the cold rain continued to fall from the clouds.

**A/N:**

**So angsty. Sorry it was, haha. I know some of you don't like it when it's **_**this **_**angsty. But I've just had one of the worst days of my life, so cut me some slack. (See ridiculously long song lyrics at beginning of chapter that are angsty as it gets)**

**Remember to check out the people I think would play the part of the character amazingly. It's on my profile. If you haven't told me how you feel about them, let me know in the reviews.**

**I know you want so Dominique-River time. You'll get it, I promise. I just didn't know how to throw that in there. Probably next chapter.**

**Quotes, comments, questions, concerns, etc? I really want to know if you liked in quotes form this chapter. For some reason, dialogue seemed to flow for me in this chapter.**

_**Reviews make Albus's birthday weekend Alex-filled! ;) **_

**Written,**

**Anonymous;) **


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Sixteen:**

**Scorpius Malfoy:**

I was punishing myself.

I supposed it needed to happen, but that didn't mean I couldn't use it to torture myself after what had happened at that wretched party Albus had insisted on having. My punishment to myself was something I had absolutely dreaded doing and had pretty much avoided thinking about. The last time I was here, I was scared so shitless that I didn't even _want _to come back. Not even to see if my mother was alright.

So, as I unlocked the front door to my childhood home with the Malfoy key, my heart seemed to fly up into my throat. I could hear clanking coming from the kitchen, which was odd… The house elves _never _cooked for themselves in the kitchen. I never really knew what they ate to stay alive, but I assumed it wasn't something that we kept in our pantry. But while the house elves never cooked for themselves, they cooked for my family and myself, and _we _never cooked for ourselves. Maybe they were making something for my mother, but I had a horrible feeling in my stomach that it wasn't the house elves in the kitchen.

Slowly, I walked down the foyer, and out of the archway that led to the grand room. The grand room was just as dusty as it had been this time, but now there were footprints - _human _footprints - marked in the dust on the wood floor. They trailed to odd places. They came from down the stairs, then to the corner, where there was absolutely nothing interesting, then straight into the middle of the room, then took a sharp turn and stopped at another corner, then went through another archway that led to the dining room and kitchen. The footprints were fresh, I could tell since no dust had gathered on top of them. I wasn't worried about finding out who it was. Since they led from upstairs, it could only be one person. My mother.

I followed the footprints into the kitchen, where the continuous clanking got louder. My heartbeat sped up. This couldn't be good. What was she doing in the kitchen? From what I could tell from all of the past visits, she hadn't left upstairs since my sixth year at Hogwarts. The house elves brought her everything. Once I got to the kitchen door, I peered through the round window. I was extremely worried at what I saw.

My mother stood at the island in the middle of the kitchen, three bowls set in front of her. Next to the bowls was a sack of flour, a pitcher of orange juice, two apples, some broccoli, a whole fish, an entire rack of spices, and a large bottle of vodka. She was pouring random ingredients in to the bowls, not even looking at which ingredients she was adding. She took a swig of vodka, then added some to each of the bowls, this nearly _chugged _half of the entire bottle down.

I didn't know how to approach her, so I decided to go with the simple and probably most dangerous way. I just opened the door and stepped inside.

"Er… Mum?"

There was a moment of complete silence before her head snapped up and her eyes locked with mine. Her bright blue eyes were crazed, one of them twitching slightly. My eyes widened. She was skinnier than she was the last time I saw her and all of her hair was matted on top of her head. I could smell her from across the room. She must not have showered since the last time I saw her. She breathed more raggedly than any human should, and her lips were disgustingly dry. "Draco," she breathed hoarsely. "Oh, Draco, I was so worried… I didn't think you were coming home tonight."

She stepped around the island and staggered forward, a spoon gripped in one hand and the bottle of vodka held in the other.

"Mum, no, I'm not dad-"

"Where have you been, Draco?" she asked just as she had the last time I was here, stepping closer. "Were you at the pub again? Our son just left, Draco. He went out looking for you." She took another swig of alcohol and then ran her wrist across her mouth. "I'm making dinner," she said. "I don't suppose you want any, though, do you? You were at the pub again!" Then, she shrieked, "_You don't love me!_"

My heart seemed to fall from my mouth to the bottom of my stomach. What had been going on between my parents before my father had died? I wouldn't have known. I was too caught up with myself back then to know. Of course I wouldn't have noticed. I was a conceited, arrogant teenager at that time. _Of course _I wouldn't have known.

"Mum, please, get a grip-" I begged desperately.

"_You don't care about us! _You're working all the time! You're at the pub if you're not! Scorpius doesn't have a father anymore, Draco! You've _abandoned _us! You don't care about us…" She began sobbing hysterically as she drank more vodka. It spilled down her chin and onto her nightgown. I felt sick. Bile rose in my throat. This was _not _my mother. She was gone. Completely gone. All of the time she had to spend alone after my father had died had driven her insane, and now she was completely different. She was living in the night that my father had died, and would never leave that night.

If only she knew that my father died to save us. If only she knew that the reason he was gone so much was because he was trying to protect us. I felt hot tears form in my eyes and couldn't help them from spilling over. "Mum, you don't understand… Just listen to me, please-"

"Draco, he's only a boy… He _needs _you. You used to spend so much time with us. You used to love us, Draco. Why don't you anymore?" Her words of my father were like a knife jabbing itself deeper and deeper into my skin. Hearing my own mother speak of my father that way _killed _me. If only she knew that he loved us so much to die for us. I had no clue things were this rough between my parents before my father died. I didn't know my mum thought my dad didn't spend enough time with me, and sadly, when I was sixteen I didn't know that he didn't. I always assumed that my father worked to support us, and that that was his way of loving us. I never thought that his death would come so suddenly and I would never see him again. I didn't care that he didn't spend time with me… Not until now.

"Mum, I'm going to get you some help, alright?"

She shrieked something unintelligible and threw herself at me. "_You. Have. Abandoned. Us!_" she screamed hysterically. "You don't care about us! You think the money you make makes up for your neglecting?" She spit on my shoes. "You're a disgusting excuse for a man!"

If anyone else was saying this about my father, I would have thrown them on the ground and beat them senseless. But this was my mum. She was saying it out of her love for him, out of the sadness she felt at the lack of my father's presence the few months before he died. I felt so sad for her. She loved him so much, and she'd never fully register that my father died because he loved her just as much, or maybe even more.

The fact that my mum was doing this because she loved my father was the only reason I didn't push her away. I let her slap my face and punch my chest. I let her continue to pound away at me until she was so physically exhausted she fell to her knees on the ground. As I stared at her, not sure whether to pity her or just feel sad for her because she was my mum, I realized that in a sick and twisted way, this was the last thing my mother and I may ever connect on. My father loved her so much that he died for her, and she loved him so much that his death drove her insane. The reason I felt we connected because of this reason was because I knew that if Rose were to die for me, I'd go completely and utterly crazy. And to be completely honest, I'd die for her in a heartbeat.

Finally, I saw that she was asleep. Sighing, I slung her over my shoulder, only halfway surprised that I didn't wake her up. I walked silently through the house and up the stairs, where I found her bedroom and laid her on her bed. After covering her with the blanket, I left the room, feeling sick.

…

"You love me, right?" was the question that made me want to break someone's arm. Actually, a _particular _person's arm. I watched as Rose stared awkwardly at Lysander Scamander, who was looking at her like she was the entire world. _What an ignorant asshole, _I thought bitterly. _She's just going to tell you that you're a disgusting person and leave you standing out in the rain if you make one fucking mistake. _

Albus and I had come to the Burrow since Molly and Arthur were having a family dinner. I had heard through Dominique that Lysander had insisted on coming with Rose, so apparently, Rose didn't _invite _him. But that didn't make it any less painful that he was there. Watching them stand near the fireplace from my spot next to Albus and Dominique on the couch made me long to be the one standing next to her.

Rose cleared her throat, unable to answer Scamander's question. He had asked the question jokingly, probably hoping to get a "yeah, you know I do" back from Rose, but that wasn't the case. The poor bastard was about to figure out just how heartbreaking Rose could be. She didn't love him, and she wasn't going to tell him that she loved him. Rose's eyes looked anywhere but Lysander's, and eventually landed on me. I raised an eyebrow, not bothering to hide the fact that I was staring at them from across the room. Her cheeks colored but she didn't look away.

A thousand emotions passed through us, just at the connection of our eyes. Rose's emotions were mostly hurt and betrayal. Mine were mostly jealousy and bitterness. What was new there? Probably the fact that the two of us weren't even trying to cover up that we were completely upset with each other. It was obvious. Albus was eying the two us cautiously and Dominique was determinedly examining her nails.

Lysander was beginning to look uncomfortable. He followed Rose's gaze, which landed on me, and then he glared at her. "Rose?" he asked. "You love me, right?" Out of anyone else's mouth, it would have sounded forceful. Like he was _forcing _her to say that she loved him. But with Lysander, he just sounded hurt and jealous. _Join the club, mate, _I thought sarcastically.

Rose laughed awkwardly. "I think you know the answer to that, Lysander," she said, attempting to dismiss the question.

Albus let out a low whistle. "Poor bastard," he said, shaking his head.

I laughed humorlessly, earning myself I quick "fuck you" glare from Rose. I shrugged before turning my body away from her so I was face Dominique and Albus directly. "So, I went and saw my mum today," I told them quietly. Dominique bit her lip and Albus raised his eyebrows. "She's not doing too good," I said, not bothering to go into what actually happened. "I think we need to question the elves soon about the ring. I don't know how… _long _it will be appropriate for you to come into the manor. She's going a little…" I couldn't finish.

Albus nodded. "No problem, mate. We'll do it next week, after the Hogsmeade weekend. Have you heard any more from Lily?"

"No," I said. "But I let her know we'd meet her at The Hogs Head. She didn't reply, but I'm sure she got the message. Do you think we should let her in on everything? You know, our suspicions of Hawk? I think we need to let her know to watch her back…"

"I don't want to scare her," Albus said immediately. "She's not a part of this."

"She's more of a part of this than you are," Dominique pointed out. "Alex _used _her."

Albus glared at her. "Which was all he did. He doesn't need her anymore, so she's not a part of it. I don't want to involve Lily in this again. She's too young."

"She's older than you were when we got involved with the Alex situation-" Dominique began.

"I _don't _want her involved, Dominique!" Albus snapped. "Do you understand? What if I asked you to make Louise a target for practically no reason?"

Dominique rolled her eyes, but didn't object. Luckily, I was saved from responding to their argument since Teddy and Victoire walked in the door at that moment. I gapped. What the hell? Victoire had told us she was pregnant _last month. _How did she get so big so fast? Dominique saw my expression and whispered, "She told us when she was three months. Apparently they didn't know for two months, then they knew for a month, but wanted to wait to tell everyone." She rolled her eyes again. "Probably building suspense or some shit."

"So she's _four months _pregnant already?" I asked.

"Yep," Dominique mumbled, not seeming the least bit interested. "She's such an attention whore."

While the entire family was fawning over Victoire's stomach, Dominique slipped up the stairs, unnoticed by anyone. I wanted to follow her and make sure that she was alright, but something told me that that wouldn't be okay. She wanted to be alone. I sighed and shook my head. I was really curious why she was acting this way, but it was none of my business.

Just as I slouched back into the couch, done debating going after Dominique, Lysander's voice cut throughout the room like a knife, silencing everyone. "You still love him, Rose. Don't deny it. I can't believe you've led me on like this… I can't _believe _it! No, you know what?" he asked, grasping at the roots of his dishwater blonde hair, and staring at Rose - who looked like she was about to cry - with wide eyes. "I _can _believe it. It was probably a scheme to make _him _jealous-"

"No, Lysander, please, it's not! I care about you, I do-" Rose began, her eyebrows pinching together as she twirled a piece of hair between her index and middle finger frantically.

"We both know that's completely bullshit, Rose. I'm just convenient. I've always been around and I've always loved you, so of course when you came crawling back to me after you broke up with him I was going to take you back! You knew it, too. You don't care how much it hurts me-"

"Lysander, please, don't do this-"

"Don't do what, Rose? You want me to ignore the fact that all you think about is him, while you claim to 'care' about me? We've been together for nearly three years, and you still act like we're fifteen! You deny what _I _want-" which I assumed was sex "-which I've been patient with. I don't understand. You act like it would _taint _your purity or something."

Then, Rose did something that I didn't expect her to do at all. I expected her to stand up for herself, but her shoulders slumped and she covered her face with her hands. It broke my heart. It completely tore it to shreds. I couldn't stand to see her that way. I assumed it was because she was humiliated. Nearly her entire family was watching as she got slammed by Lysander about not wanting to have sex.

"Don't think I buy that, either," he said. "I know you've done things with Scorpius."

Eyes throughout the room flickered toward me and then back to Scamander, who continued talking, oblivious to the fact that I was now fuming. Who was _he _to assume things about mine and Rose's relationship? "How can you _not _have? You can't _still _be a virgin, can you? You're nearly twenty."

"Okay, mate," I interrupted, standing up. I was so done with this asshole's bullshit. "First of all, it's none of your fucking business what went on in mine and Rose's relationship," I stated, sauntering closer to him. "Second of all, Rose probably hasn't had sex with you because she's seen _so _much better." That comment got me a frustrated grunt from Ron Weasley and a defeated sigh from Albus. "And third of all-" now I was standing directly in front of him "-you _never _speak to her like that again, do you hear me?"

Lysander didn't even blink. "I'm not afraid of you, Malfoy."

"You should be," I told him simply.

"Full of yourself?" he asked.

"Yes," I said, raising an eyebrow. He had nothing to say back because of the bluntness to my answer, so I continued speaking. "If I ever hear you telling her how she feels, I swear to Merlin I will hunt you down. If I ever hear a single _rumor _that you're forcing her to do things that she doesn't want to do, I find you and I will kill you. Don't think I'm bluffing."

"Okay, okay!" Teddy Lupin cut in, stepping forward and grabbing my shoulder. "Let's brush this off," he said, steering me away. I only broke eye contact with Lysander to see Rose leave out the back door. I didn't know whether to be happy that she was away from Lysander or upset that she didn't stick around to talk to me. I supposed I should be grateful that she got herself out of there unnoticed. I heard her disapparate only moments later.

I left shortly after, not in the mood to face the entire Weasley-Potter-Lupin clan after what had happened. I wasn't really in the mood to face _anyone _after what had happened. Once I got home, I sat in front of the window in my bedroom and glared out at the clouds that were beginning to take over the night sky. As rain began to hit the roof, Albus came home. I listened as he went into his bedroom. I watched as clouds came and went all night long, thinking about how different Rose responded to the way Lysander spoke to her than I expected she would. As the sun came up, I vaguely wondered if I would ever figure out what had changed Rose so much.

**A/N:**

**Sigh. Sorry that took so long. I've been so busy. I've been sick. I've been devastated over a guy. All in one week. (The last two are still in action, but don't you worry about little 'ol me.) **

**Ha. I love how much hate the kettle got in the last chapter.**

**Thanks for your reviews. They're brilliant, as always. Let me know what you liked about this chapter. Once again, it was pretty angsty. Sorry, I write what I feel, and I'm a teenager. Sometimes we feel angst. Al's birthday weekend is in the next chapter, I promise. I needed a filler, plus I figured you probably wanted some more on Scorpius's mom and the final ending to Lysander and Rose's relationship. **

**Quotes, comments, questions, predictions. Let me know.**

_**Reviews make Rose and Scorpius talk some more and stuff. You know. (:**_

**Written,**

**Anonymous**


	17. Chapter 17

_**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **_

_**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **_

_**My Devotion**_

_**Chapter Seventeen:**_

_**Rose Weasley:**_

"_So, have you talked to Scorpius?" Dominique asked, throwing herself on my bed, blinking her eye shadow covered eyes at me. She looked gorgeous for Albus's birthday party, which I knew was only because River had grudgingly agreed to tag along with Teddy. She wore overly torn up jeans, sparkly sequined shirt with a black cardigan over it and strappy heels. I envied her for being brave enough to wear something as glamorous as that. All I wore was skinny jeans tucked into brown boots, a sweater, and a necklace with a small heart pendant dangling off. _

"_No," I answered stiffly, glancing at her as I pulled my hair out of its high ponytail in front of the mirror in my bedroom. "But he hasn't tried to talk to me, either, so…" _

"_Oh, c'mon, Rose. Cut the boy some slack. He stood up for you in front of Lysander, which was so _sweet," she gushed. "You have to forgive him. He was drunk, and not to mention probably running a fever from having that cold. For all we know, Fate Brown could have slipped something in his drink…"

"Scorpius knew perfectly well what he was doing," I said grudgingly. "Plus, he didn't need to stand up for me. I was completely capable of standing up for myself." That was a lie. I was about to have a breakdown at what Lysander had said, mainly because it was untrue. _You act like it would taint your purity or something, _he had said. Though I wasn't in love with Lysander, that didn't mean what he said didn't hurt. I had known him my whole life and he didn't normally act like that, so I thought I was safe with him. But I wasn't. Though I was thankful for Scorpius coming to my aid, I didn't want to have to owe him anything more than I already did. It made my heart flutter to think that he still cared enough about me after what I had said to him after he had kissed Fate Brown to stand up for me like that.

"But he was so _honest. _Oh, Rose… Scorpius loves you so much. I wish the two of you would just get back together. I want him to be my brother-in-law." Now she just sounded like a child.

"First of all, I doubt Scorpius loves me," I said, hoping that I was wrong. "Second of all, we're cousins, not sisters, even though I really wish we were. So he'd only be your cousin-in-law. Third of all, I don't think Scorpius is the type to get married. Plus, I want kids. You know I want kids. I can't see Scorpius having and children. Ever." I sighed.

"Oh, shut it, you know we're sisters at heart." Then she giggled. "I think you underestimate Scorpius, Rose. I think he'd marry you _and _I think he'd have kids with you. He wouldn't even hesitate. I think he'd do anything for you, really. He's head over heels."

"Scorpius isn't like River, Dom. He's… I don't know. He talks to you and Albus, but he doesn't really talk to you. Some of the things he has said to me in the past about what he thinks about himself and his family and his past and his future scare me, and I think they scare him too. They don't scare me in the sense that I can't be around him, but more if in the way that I'm scared for him. He punishes himself for the smallest things…" I sighed and shook my head, finally turning away from the mirror to face Dominique. "He's very hard on himself."

"When did we get on the topic of Scorpius and his feelings about _himself? _We're talking about his feelings for _you_," Dominique muttered, rolling her eyes. "You just need to tell him that you're still head over heels in love with him too, and then get married, and then have six babies." She smiled, a dreamy look appearing on her face. "Do you think River and I would make cute babies?"

"Probably," I told her honestly. "River isn't _ugly. _Far from it, actually. And we all know you're gorgeous." I stuck my tongue out at her. "Are you ready? Albus will kill us if we're late…"

…

Albus had managed to rent out the club in Diagon Alley, which I wasn't surprised about. He had invited all of our graduating class from Hogwarts, along with half of the year that graduated before us. He was funny to watch as he conversed with everyone. Albus could be so obnoxious it was painful. He was shouting things about how he loved everyone here, then would smack Scorpius - who was his right hand man - on the shoulder and ask him if he was having a good time. Albus and Scorpius's usual posse stayed crowded around them, the six of them looking more badass than they actually were.

Dominique was dancing with Jay Bones, and River, who was sitting on the other side of the bar from me, was looking more jealous than I ever thought possible. Teddy sat beside him, drinking something out a clear glass cup, looking bored. I supposed Teddy was too old for this environment now. I knew that for a awhile he had been a partier, he and Victoire both, actually. Now he just looked like he wanted to go home.

"Hello," a familiar voice said from beside me. I jumped, and looked to my left. Scorpius had broken away from Albus and their posse and slid into the barstool beside me. He was smirking the smirk he had reserved especially for me as he stared down into his drink, which he was stirring with a red straw. He glanced at me from the corner of his eye. "You know," he said, "this is where you're supposed to say 'hello' back."

I smiled, blushing. "Hello," I said quietly, suddenly very self-conscious. Scorpius looked amazing, like he always did, but this time he looked _really _amazing. He wore a black button up dress shirt along with a black stroller jacket and dark muggle designer jeans. His trainers made him look a little bit more casual, but he still managed to look like he could pass as a royal.

He was silent for a moment before saying, "Can I ask you a question?"

I nearly choked on my drink that I had just taken a sip of. He was being so serious that is surprised me. I knew that I was supposed to be mad at him about the whole Fate thing, but I was too emotionally exhausted to be mad at him. I may still be hurt by it, but I couldn't hold anymore grudges against him. "Of course," I said, nodding. "Yes, of course."

"Did you love him?"

I stared at him, incredulous. He had so much nerve to ask the question. I wasn't offending, just shocked. As surprised as I was, I knew that I owed it to him to tell him. I cleared my throat before shaking my head. "No. Well, in a way I'll always love Lysander. I've never been in love with him, but I've known him my whole life. He's like a cousin. I definitely didn't expect him to act the way he did the other night…"

Scorpius nodded. "That makes sense. I don't care about her, you know," Scorpius said quietly. "Fate Brown. I don't care about her at all. She's just a whore. I would be _happy _if I never had to see her again. She's disgusting."

I laughed humorlessly. "We use that word a lot, you and I. Disgusting. I think we overuse it. It has seemed to have lost it's meaning, since we can call each other that _and _someone you seem to hate so much."

He started to look offended, but regained his composure. "I guess you're right," he agreed, sighing. "Let me rephrase that. She's sickening. Vile. Filthy. Repulsive. Anything you want. She's nothing to me."

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked softly. "The damage is done, Scorpius. You know that."

"I'm telling you this because I want you to know that I'm done with this game we're playing. You know I care about you, Rose. And I know that deep down, you care about me. I'm sorry that I've hurt you. I'm sorry for whatever I did to make you leave me back in sixth year. But I'm done with this game. I'm so tired of it. It's _physically exhausts _me, Rose. I still care about you, and I'm not getting over you any time soon, so I'm not going anywhere."

Finally, he looked up at me and his eyes were so pained that I wanted to put my arms around him. Slowly, I reached forward and took his hand, which was resting on his lap, in mine. He pushed his fingers through mine and stroked my thumb with his. "I miss you, Rose."

"I miss you too," I whispered, holding back the tears that wanted to come.

As he slowly leaned forward, he slipped his other hand up my neck and into my hair. I slid my hand from his hand, up his arm, and to his neck. Just as our lips were about to touch, just as they barely brushed across each other-

_BOOM!_

Scorpius jerked away from me, but as he did so he grabbed my wrist. Everyone in the club went silent, and in that moment of silence, my eyes met with Dominique's and Scorpius's eyes met with Albus's. Then, the four of us were shoving our way past people, Teddy and River right on our heels. Albus shoved open the door to the club, and the six of us piled out. I gasped. Scorpius swore.

In the building across from the club, a building I recognized as the Apothecary had a massive hole in the room and flames were spewing out all of the windows and doors. Albus looked around wildly, and just as he was about to open his mouth, another deafeningly loud explosion broke through the night air. The ground shook and Scorpius slid his arm around my waist, steadying himself as he steadied me.

Albus shouted something at River just as a third explosion sounded. River nodded and grabbed Dominique's arm. The two of them began running in the direction of the Leaky Cauldron. Albus turned to Scorpius. "We're splitting up," he said. "This is Alex. It _has _to be Alex. He's the only one who would set off _bombs. _He may be around here somewhere. Send up blue flames if you find him. I'm going with Teddy. You and Rose go that way." He gestured down the alley way that was beside the nightclub. Remember, _blue flames._"

With that, he and Teddy took off in the opposite direction of Dominique and River, wands out.

Scorpius ran a hand through his hair, taking in his surroundings. He turned to me. "Listen to me," he said, "stay right next to me. Don't let go of my hand. If I let go of you, hang out to my jacket, my belt loop… anything. I don't care. Just _don't let go of me. _I don't want us to be separated. With Alex running around, he's out looking for _us. _Not anyone else."

My heartbeat picked up, but oddly, I didn't feel scared. If I was alone, I probably would have fainted out of fear. But I was with Scorpius. His look of determination and his adamancy of us not being separated made me feel safe. Scorpius always had a way of making me feel safe. At that moment, I didn't care that if Alex were to see Scorpius and I together he'd decide to do something horribly rash. In that moment, I was safe. I was with Scorpius.

I nodded and Scorpius slipped his hand back into mine. "Alright," he said, grinning cockily. "That's the Rose I know."

The two of us took off into the alley way, our wands lit up. The alleyway was surprisingly long and had several twists and turns to it. For some reason, it reminded me of the caves. The caves had what seemed like hundreds of different caves attached to it. Though it brought back terrible memories, I still couldn't find it in me to be scared. Scorpius's mere presence kept me from losing myself to the memories of what happened the caves.

That was the moment I realized I couldn't live without him, and I _wouldn't _live without him.

"You alright?" he asked as the two of us turned a corner, that led to another alleyway. I wondered if we'd reach Knockturn Alley soon, or if we were just in the alleyways behind all of the shops and flats in Diagon Alley.

I looked up at Scorpius and nodded. "Do you think he's looking for us?" I asked.

Scorpius swallowed and said grimly, "Yes, I do think he's looking for us. Unless he just wants to start havoc, which wouldn't be surprising either. He's probably trying to get a message across. Don't worry," he added, squeezing my hand. "I'll get us out of here."

"I know you will."

We continued down into the alleyways. It became more and more anticlimactic as we got deeper into them. We had been walking for about ten minutes when we heard an explosion. The two of us spun around to see blue sparks flying up into the sky. My heart flew up into my throat. Blue sparks flew up into the air from the same spot again. And again. And again.

"Shit," Scorpius said, and began running, dragging me with him.

"What?" I asked, finally beginning to panic. "What happened?"

"It's an emergency. Albus wouldn't have sent three sparks up." Scorpius looked like he was about to murder someone. It wasn't until then that I realized how much Scorpius and Albus cared for each other. They were really like brothers. Their bond was thicker than blood. I'd never forget the terrified expression on Scorpius's face as the two of us ran back through the alleyways.

"Dominique might have sent three up with out knowing," I said, hoping to calm him.

"Dominique isn't stupid. She wouldn't have done it either. It's Albus. I _know _it's Albus."

Finally, we broke back through the entry to the alleyways. The sparks went up again and the two of us ran in the direction that Teddy and Albus originally went. Aurors were swarming the scene now, but the air was oddly silent. There were no more explosions. Alex was gone or captured, and by the look on the aurors faces, he hadn't been captured. He'd escaped again. Yet, someone was still sending up sparks…

"No," Scorpius muttered, speeding up. I nearly tripped. The disparity in his voice scared me to death. I wasn't grasping what was going on. "No, no, no."

Finally, we arrived at where the sparks were flying up. A large group of people was surrounding something. Scorpius wrapped and arm around my shoulder so he could push his way through the crowd without losing physical contact with me. People were shouting in protest until we heard Teddy shouting for them to move aside. They parted once they saw who we were. Finally, we broke through. There was a smaller group of people surrounding one person.

Albus's unconscious laid on the ground, limp and pale. His father knelt beside him, his glasses sliding down onto the bridge of his nose. Ron stood beside the scene, yelling at a healer to do something. Teddy looked absolutely livid as he knelt down beside his brother also and took his hand. Dominique held our cousin's other hand, tears streaming down her face. River stood beside her, gripping her shoulder firmly. I slowly looked up to see Scorpius's face.

I would never forget his expression. It was a mixture of horror and despair, along with a deep sadness that I'd never be able to explain. It took him a moment, but finally, he stumbled forward and dropped to his knees besides his best friend, dragging me with him.

Healers awkwardly pulled his body onto a stretcher since everyone refused to move. Before they disapparated with him to St. Mungos, Scorpius pulled a small piece of parchment out of his half-open fist.

Scorpius, Dominique, and I stared at the parchment, sickened when we saw that the note was written in blood.

**A/N:**

**That was a fun chapter to write. It flowed for me. **

**I decided on someone who would work better for Rose, and oddly, this actress is EXACTLY how I imagine her. When I have the time, I'll switch it on my profile. But you guys know the actress who plays Rose in Titanic? I was watching that tonight and I was like "What the hell. She is perfect." So just go on google and type in "Rose titanic" and you'll see a picture of her. She's older now, but that version - her red hair and whatnot is perfect. **

**But I hope you liked this chapter.**

**Quotes, moments, etc? Let me know!**

_**I don't have time for the "reviews will" thing today. Sorry! Plus, I left a cliffhanger. Don't wanna give anything away. ;) **_

**Written,**

**Anonymous;)**

**PS: Didn't edit this much. Sorry! I tried to edit as I went.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Eighteen:**

**Scorpius Malfoy:**

"Let them through!" an auror - who I also recognized as our training supervisor, Furor Gust - shouted, shoving a few witches who were snapping pictures out of the way. It disgusted me. The Potter craze had ended years ago, finally giving the poor family some peace, but as soon as someone gets hurt, the _Daily Prophet _was all over it. "Let them through!" Gust roared again, grabbing my upper arm and dragging me through the swarm of people outside of St. Mungos. As Gust pulled me through the crowd of people, I dragged Rose after me. I turned to see if Dominique was still behind us. She was, along with River. He had his arm around her waist and had his auror badge out of his pocket and was flashing it at people, commanding them to move. If I hadn't been so fucking worried, I probably would have been relieved that he and Dominique seemed to be making progress with their screwy relationship, but I couldn't even think straight. The only thing running through my mind at that moment was, _"No, no, no, no… This cannot be happening. After everything he's done for me, this _cannot _be happening!"_

Finally, we broke through the mob, and pushed our way through the door. Dominique, Rose, River, and I had all taken a bit longer to get to the hospital than the others. The four of us had been debating hastily whether or not to read the note until after we found out if Albus was okay or not. If he was okay, he deserved to read it with us. The most we saw was that the letter was addressed to me and it was in Alex's handwriting. The ink was blood - Albus's, I assumed, but I didn't know how Alex would have been able to scribble the note down so fast.

The four of us all but ran to the secretary. River shouted for people to move, since the lobby area in St. Mungos was just about as crowded as it was outside. Once we _finally _got to the front desk, we began demanding what floor Albus was on. The secretary who looked flustered and angry said, "Why would I tell _you? _Are you family?"

"I'm his cousin," Rose snapped angrily, finally seeming to come out of her daze. She had seemed as if she was in shock. Now she just looked panicked. "I'm Rose _Weasley. _Tell me what floor he's on or I swear to Merlin, my father will-"

River threw his aurors badge on the desk. "Auror Connolly," he stated. "Once a professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, volunteering as a trainer for Alastor Moody's Auror Academy. You are, by law, required to tell me whatever I want to know. What floor is Albus Potter on? If you don't tell me, I'll be forced to take your wand and escort you to the Ministry for questioning about the act of abusing your profession."

I looked at Connolly with a new level of respect for him. He was sort of… well… _badass. _

The secretary tried to look bored, but there was spark of panic in her eyes. She sighed. "He's on the fourth floor-"

The four of us were off, weaving our way through people and reporters. Once the people from the _Daily Prophet _sawwho we actually were, they were shouting questions after us, desperate to find out what happened. The only person who really knew was Teddy, since he was the one who was with Albus. Not even _I _knew what had happened yet, though I was desperate to figure out what it was. I assumed that Harry Potter would demand that we keep what happened to Albus completely confidential, only speaking about it to each other and nobody else.

Once we had all piled into a lift, I pressed the button for the fourth floor. The doors didn't close fast enough. I pressed the button again. The doors were closing too slowly. I began flipping the hell out, slamming my hand against the fourth floor button. Why the _hell _wouldn't the doors close fast enough? "Damnit!" I shouted, my mind full of panic and only that. I wouldn't know what I'd do if Albus died. Albus was the closest person to me. He had stuck with me after Rose broke up with me, dealt with my continuing depression over my father's death, helped me finally have enough strength to move out of the manor… He was there for _everything. _He had become my brother… He may be a prick and obnoxious, but he was the only family I had left, with my mother going crazy and my father being dead. If Albus was gone, I wouldn't know what I'd do. Of course, I _might _have Rose back… But it wasn't the same.

"Scorpius," Rose finally said, grabbing my shoulder roughly. "Stop. Scorpius, _stop._"

I spun to face her. I could only imagine what my face looked like at that moment. Pained? Shocked? Devastated? Terrified? I'd never know. But I knew when Rose took my hand without saying anything else, that whatever I was feeling at that moment was written all over my face.

Finally, the lift began to climb upwards. The four of us stood in the lift in silence. Dominique was bouncing up and down on her heels, looking anxiously up at River, who was flicking his nails together. Rose was biting her lip and looking at the doors to the lifts. I was analyzing all of them, hoping that it would calm me. It didn't.

The doors opened after what seemed like an eternity, and we piled out into the hallway. It didn't take long for us to hear Harry Potter yelling at one of the healers hysterically. The only coherent words coming out of his mouth were "son" and "explosion" and "dying." I swallowed, exchanging a glance with Rose, who looked livid. We hurried to where the yelling was coming from. Teddy was all but ripping his hair out. He looked so ashamed and devastated, almost like it was _his _fault that Albus was in the condition he was in. Ron stood near the entry way to the hallway that led to the emergency rooms. He was silent, for once.

Moments later, Ginny and Hermione ran out of one of the lifts, along with Victoire, Bill, and Fleur. Before we knew it, the entire Weasley-Potter-Lupin clan - except for the kids who were still at Hogwarts, and James, who was in Bulgaria training for Quidditch - was packed into the hallway, all demanding answers and getting angry when they didn't get any. Victoire was hugging Teddy, who seemed rather detached. But Victoire didn't care. I could hear her telling him it wasn't his fault, which it wasn't, and trying to reassure him.

Eventually, a healer came out of the emergency rooms hallway. He looked grim. Once everyone saw that he was there and shut up, he began speaking. "From what I gather, Albus was right next to a bomb when it exploded. It sent him flying backwards and on the ground several meters away from where the bomb originally went off, causing him to fall unconscious. It wouldn't be such a big deal if shrapnel from the bomb hadn't been flying through the air, as well. He was hit several times by the fragments, and has several wounds. A major artery in his leg was punctured and he lost a lot of blood. We've done all we can - given him potions, patched up the wound - but he's not stabilizing. He's running a very high fever, and none of the potions we've given him are bringing it down. He's still in _very _critical condition, and now all we can do is see if his body will fight it off for him."

There was a moment of silence, which was quickly interrupted by the doors opening on one of the lifts. James burst threw when there was just enough room for him to slip through the sliding doors. I wondered what he told his Quidditch coaches to let him come. Knowing James, he probably just left. I would have done the same. "Where is he?" he inquired desperately. "What happened to him? Is he alive?" James had sweat pouring down his face. He looked like he had ran ten miles to get here. I felt a connection with James at that moment. He had to be the only person in the room who had to be feeling similarly to what I was feeling. "Mum?" he asked when nobody responded. "Mum, is he alright? What's _happened?_"

"No, dear," Ginny said, stepping forward so she could speak to her son without interruption as worried whispers began to fill the hallway. "He's not doing too well, sweetheart. He's lost a lot of blood and he's running a very high fever. None of the potions that they used to bring it down are working. All they can do now is see if his body can fight it off." Ginny's voice cracked at the end and she put her arms around her son. I wished Albus was here to see this. He had told me several times that his mum wasn't one for crying, and he had never once seen her cry. I wondered if he'd feel embarrassed. I wondered what he would say.

I looked at Rose for the first time since we had arrived in the hallway. She was looking at me. "Do you think he'll be okay?" she asked, her voice shaky. "He's Albus… He's Albus _Potter. _He has to be okay, right? He can't _not _be okay! He's strong enough to fight this, don't you think? He has to be strong enough!" She becoming more and more hysteric as she continued talking. Finally, I hesitantly put my arms around her. Rose was alarmed for a moment, but she quickly molded into my embrace. I didn't know if we were on _this _level yet, but figured under the circumstances, what level Rose and I were on didn't matter.

"I don't know," I said into her hair, squeezing her tightly. "I don't know if he's strong enough."

"He has to be… He's played Quidditch his entire life… He's a natural auror…" she rambled on, her face buried in my chest. "He can't die," she said quietly, her voice muffled as I squeezed her more tightly. "He's Albus. It's not _possible._"

"I don't know what's possible anymore, Rose."

…

I sat straight up when I saw a healer's assistant push open the door that led to the emergency rooms and stand patiently, waiting for everyone who was in a half-asleep state to come around. We had been here for four hours. It was two in the morning now, and we hadn't heard any word about Albus since the healer had told us his condition. Rose, who was leaning on my shoulder became alert right away, as did Dominique and River. The four of us had taken spots on the ground, up against the wall. It wasn't the most comfortable spot, but at that moment, it didn't matter.

The assistant cleared her throat, looking at all of us with sad eyes. "Albus has become unresponsive," she said gently, only loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. Ginny gasped and began to cry once again. Harry put his arm around her shoulder and clenched his teeth, determined to hold his composure. Teddy stood up from his chair, nearly knocking Victoire aside. James, who was leaning rigidly against the wall, looked at the healer, nothing but horror in his eyes. Dominique's face was a mask of stone, too scared to say anything. Rose was looking at the healer's assistant with such utter terror that you'd think the assistant was a bloodsucking monster. My mind was blank. Albus - _Albus, _who never stopped talking, who always had a cocky remark to say about everything - unresponsive? I clenched and unclenched my fists. _No, no, no… Not him. Not him. I'd rather it be me. Albus doesn't deserve this._

"He's still alive," the healer's assistant told us, twisting her hands together. "But as I've said, he's unresponsive. He has seemed to have fallen into a coma. The healers injected him with a potion that was meant to keep him unconscious the moment they got him onto the operating table so that he wouldn't have to feel the pain of the wound on his leg. But now we know that the potion was unnecessary - he would have stayed unconscious anyway. His comatose state is due to trauma. When he hit the ground after the explosion, he hit his head very hard. Basically, when he hit his head his brain swelled slightly, causing fluids to push up against his skull. Luckily, he's stabilized, but he's still unresponsive, as I've said. He could be comatose for a few more hours or a few more weeks. Unfortunately, we don't have a potion to bring him out of it. We'll just have to wait for the swelling to go down."

"I'm sorry," Teddy said tightly. "I can't be in here right now." He strode across the room and walked into a lift. The doors shut and everyone stared at the spot where he once stood. I had never seen Teddy respond to anything in this way. I'd seen him happy, serious, maybe a little bit angry, but _never _once had I seen Teddy guilty. Teddy was too perfect to ever do anything to be guilty, and that was still the case now. He shouldn't feel guilty. It wasn't _his _fault Albus had been standing near a bomb.

Though things were still tense, there was a little bit of relief in the room. We were all breathing a little lighter now. The healers were allowing us to go in and see Albus in small groups. Naturally, Ginny and Harry got to go first so they could have a few moments alone with their son. After that, they allowed James, Rose, Dominique, and I to go inside. Teddy still hadn't come back in, but I reckoned he'd probably want to see Albus for the first time after the accident alone, so I didn't bother insisting on someone going and finding him.

The four of us walked into his hospital room slowly and quietly, as if we were going to wake him. He was pale, put looked better than I'd thought he would. His now-overly long hair stuck up everyone which way, some of it falling into his face. A few scratches scarred his face, but nothing a healing potion couldn't fix. His breathing was even as we all stared at him, looking as if he were only sleeping. I clenched my teeth, willing myself not to start shouting. I was his _second. _I should have been there to help him. Of course, Teddy was with him, but I was his fucking _second. _I knew every move he would have made, the two of us would have been more cautious because that's just how we were together. It was my fault he was now in the mess. Albus, who only tried to help me, was in this mess because of me.

James looked repulsed at the sight of his brother. "This isn't him… It _can't _be him," he muttered. "Albus doesn't belong in a hospital bed."

Silently, I took Albus's hand. "I'm so sorry," I said. "I'm sorry that you're here because of me."

Rose opened her mouth to say something, but thought better of it. She rested a hand on his elbow. Dominique wasn't speaking. Not saying a word, she kissed her cousin's forehead and knelt down beside his bed, resting her hand on his shoulder. James took Albus's other hand.

As I stared at my best friend - my _brother _-the sick realization finally dawned on me.

This was only the beginning.

**A/N:**

**No, I didn't kill off Albus. You guys KNOW I love Albus too much to kill him off.**

**Oh, and about the whole "coma explanation" thing that the assistant gave… bare with me on that. I wiki-ed that, and pretty much wrote it after reading was comas caused by trauma was once. So if you're a doctor or something and I'm completely wrong, just let it be. Haha.**

**I'm really tired, so I'm just going to stop right here.**

**You know the drill! Predictions, quotes, comments, questions, concerns? Let me know!**

_**Reviews make Albus wake up… How can you NOT review for that? ;) **_

**Written,**

**Anonymous;)**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Nineteen:**

**Scorpius Malfoy:**

"Hey," I said when I saw Teddy leaning against the wall outside of St. Mungos, gripping at the roots of his hair and staring up at the sky. He looked so upset. I had never seen Teddy - the always perfectly composed and patient Teddy - so distraught. He was paler than he usually was and finger nails were bitten down to the quick. His left shoelace was untied and his button up shirt was crumpled and stained with dirt. "You look like, shit, mate." I told him honestly, also leaning against the wall. I pulled my pack of cigarettes out of my pocket and flipped open the box. After taking one out for myself, I offered him one. I expected him to decline, but he surprised me. He took one carefully from the box. After I lit my cigarette, I gave him my book of matches.

"Did they let you go in and see him?" Teddy asked, lighting the cigarette and handing me back the matchbook. It was odd seeing Teddy taking a drag of a cigarette, just like it was odd to see him get drunk and pass out the night Albus and I graduated from Hogwarts and came home. I let it go, though. Who I was I to judge Teddy for smoking one cigarette when I smoked a pack every two days?

I nodded. "It doesn't look right," I muttered, "seeing him like that. Albus has never looked so fragile, you know?" I asked, feeling stupid. Of course Teddy knew Albus had never looked so fragile.

"Dammit," Teddy mumbled. "I… I'm so sorry, Scorpius," he said, meeting my eyes. "It was my fault. I was a coward… He needed me, and I ran… I ran away. I can't believe this… How am I going to raise my child if I can't even look after my baby brother?" It was strange, hearing Teddy refer to Albus as his "baby brother." Albus was one of the strongest, toughest people I knew, so hearing someone refer to him as a "baby" in an endearing sort of way made me realize that all of these people - his parents, his siblings, his cousins - were just as scared and worried as I was.

"What do you mean?" I asked, finally registering that he said he had ran away. "Ran away from what?" I eyed him suspiciously. "Did you see Alex?" I asked. He shook his head. "Was it his house elf?" I wondered. Teddy shook his head, seeming unable to speak. I waited patiently for Teddy to regain his composure. He wasn't crying, which was a relief. But the guilt on his face was just about as bad. I knew Teddy didn't intentionally do anything to get Albus into this mess, but I didn't doubt that he accidentally did something. It's not that I thought Teddy was a bad auror or a fighter, it was just that I knew Albus would be on high alert. And Albus on high alert meant that his unexplainable natural auror instincts kicked in. It would be virtually impossible for him to make a mistake or put himself _or _Teddy in danger.

Finally, Teddy sighed and met my eyes. When he began talking, I knew instantly that what he was about tell me wasn't just some freak accident. Something had happened, something Teddy had refrained from telling me about in front of the rest of the family. "Albus and I had turned into a deserted part of Diagon Alley. It was a side street, where shopkeepers and workers live. We were looking for him - Alex, I mean - and everything was going fine for awhile. But then, it seemed like it appeared out of nowhere. The shadow was right in the middle of the street. I urged Albus to send up blue sparks, just to be safe, but he told me to be quiet. It wasn't Alex, I could tell because Albus had told you to send up sparks if any of us found him. Albus wouldn't tell you to do something and then not do it himself. He would have sent up the sparks if it was Alex.

"Anyway, I stepped backward, but Albus stepped forward, so I didn't exactly run away, but I might as well have. Albus seemed to be very interested in this person. 'Your name?' Albus demanded, but the person didn't answer. Albus stepped closer once more, and I didn't move. I knew at that moment that I should be there, protecting my under trained brother, but I couldn't move. I was too scared. There was something about this person didn't feel right to me. By the time Albus got close enough to the person to see his face, he didn't seem as scared as he should have been. 'You're…' Albus said. 'You're a muggle, aren't you? What has Alex sent you here to say?' The person didn't answer, all he did was hand Albus two pieces of what looked like folded parchment. Albus opened one of the letters, looked up at the muggle, and said, 'This is addressed to Scorpius.' The muggle said nothing, so Albus took that as a sign to continue reading. After a few moments, Albus stumbled backwards. I had never seen him so scared. I didn't have time to move forward, because that's when…"

I waited for Teddy to regain a hold of himself once more, trying not to let myself get too nervous over what he was about to say. I was going to be an auror. I had to be able to control myself. I had to be able to take the worst news with grace. Once he was finished breathing deeply, he continued speaking. "That's when the person blew up." My eyes widened, but I managed to keep the barrier I had created up. "He… just… _exploded. _There was a bomb planted inside of him, Scorpius. An innocent muggle, who didn't know where the hell he was or what in the world was going on. A muggle who had a whole life from wherever he came from, an entire family…"

It felt very sad for the man who had blown up, but I couldn't let that get to me as it had to Teddy. I supposed it wasn't his fault. He had actually seen it happen. It was different for me. My one and only concern was the two notes. What had happened to the other one? Albus had had one in his fist, but what happened to the second note? There hadn't been a trace of another one. It must have fallen out of Albus must have dropped it when the man exploded, and it caught flame from the explosion. Or, it could have had a vanishing charm placed on it. Fuck.

_Another missing puzzle piece, _I thought bitterly, pulling the note that I had taken from Albus's fist out of my pocket and unfolding it. Rose and Dominique would be mad that I didn't wait for when Albus woke up, but this was an emergency. If the note Albus had read scared him as bad as Teddy said it had, then it wasn't something that could wait. Albus was nearly impossible to scare. If he literally _stumbled _backwards as Teddy had said he had, then this wasn't good. I began to read the note that was written in blood.

_Scorpius,_

_You're losing._

_-Alex_

At that moment, Rose and Dominique stepped out of the entrance to St. Mungos. Dominique looked seriously pissed off that I didn't wait for she and Rose, but I didn't care. At that moment, the only thing I could see was that note. The casualness Alex used in it made my blood run cold. He signed with _AWS _in every other letter he had left for us in the past. Now he sounded as if we were children and the two of us were playing a game of hide and seek.

Silently, Rose took the letter and read it. I didn't want to see her expression yet, not until I could regain my own composure. I had to be strong for her. Though I was unsure what the two of us were now - whether we were back together or not - I still needed to be her rock. It was the only thing that kept me from jumping of a bridge. Even though she hadn't admitted to it, she needed me. Whatever happened in the caves had scarred her, and she needed me to be there for her.

Rose handed the note to Dominique without saying anything. Dominique began speaking at once. "What the _hell _does this mean?" she demanded, placing her hands on the back of her head and beginning to pace. "Does he think this is a _game?_"

"There was two notes," I said after a moment, feeling the need to fill them in on that small detail. "The one Albus read probably had a vanishing charm placed on it, so only he could read it. This note was meant for me - for us - and the other was meant for him."

"What do you mean, Scorpius?" Rose asked. "What are you talking about?"

So, I told Rose and Dominique what Teddy had told me, trying not to let my mind wander too much. Teddy jumped in whenever I forgot something that he seemed to think was crucial, which was everything. Rose and Dominique managed to seem fairly calm until the part about the muggle blowing up. Rose's eyes widened and Dominique looked like she was about to be sick. Once I was finished, I said, "So Albus knows something we don't… Something that we won't be able to figure out until we wakes up."

A chilling silence fell over us.

"I guess we just need to be on our highest guard then," Rose said quietly.

"What guard have we be on, then, Rose?" Dominique snapped, seeming to finally lose it. "Our low-to-medium guard? How much higher can we get? We've been on our highest guard for the past three years! He's still managed to get to us through that! Albus was on his highest guard tonight, and look what happened! He's practically dead! What's going to happen when another one of us nearly gets our leg ripped off, or our skull crushed in? What guard will we need to be on _then, _Rose?" She threw her hands up in the air. "You can be so _stupid_-"

"Hey," I interrupted harshly. "Don't-"

"Don't what, Scorpius?" Dominique demanded, rounding on me. "You are so _blinded _by her, Scorpius_. _You don't see that your best friend who's risked everything for you is laying nearly dead in a hospital bed right now? Nobody knows when he'll wake up, or _if _he'll wake up, and you have the nerve to yell at me for speaking to my cousin-"

"_Don't _tell me what I already know, Dominique," I snapped viciously. "I _know _he's risked everything for me, and I _know _he's in danger. What do you want me to do? Admit that I feel guilty as hell for this? Well, here you go, then. I feel guilty. So fucking guilty that I can barely see straight. But you know what the real issue is here? Not my guilt, not your annoying tendency to overreact act at every damned thing, not even Albus laying in that hospital bed-"

"You bastard-" she began venomously, raising her hand as if she was about to slap me.

"Don't interrupt up me! You don't understand the big picture here! This is something that scared Albus - _Albus Potter _-so bad that he nearly lost his balance. He knows something we don't know, and he's not waking up any time soon. We have to figure out what the hell Alex wrote in that missing note, or we could all be done for. Do you understand me?"

"For the love of Merlin, Scorpius, don't speak down to me-" she began, her cheeks flaming.

"Then _don't _tell me what I know, Dominique. I understand perfectly well what's going on."

The two of us stared at each other, speaking with only our eyes now. I felt bad for being such an ass to Dominique, but if she didn't understand that I knew just as well as anyone else what was going on, then she needed a reality check. Eventually, Dominique sighed and mumbled an apology, which I accepted with grace. "We're all on edge right now," I said obviously. "Sorry that I was such a prick. No harm was intended."

I looked at Rose, nearly forgetting she and Teddy were there. "Well…" I said. "I suppose we should get going. We have no business here. Not right now, anyway," I added. "I think Ginny and Harry probably want time alone with him."

"When did _you _become the rational one?" Rose mumbled, and I elbowed her lightly, glancing at her out of the corner of my eye and gave her a small smile. She bit her lip before dropping her gaze and blushing. "You should come home with us," she said softly. "I don't think it'd be fair for you to go home tonight all alone. You know… It might make you sad that Albus wasn't with you, since the two of you… you know, share the place."

I didn't bother to remind her that I was already sad that Albus wasn't with me at that very moment, but I shook my head. "I don't want to crowd things at your flat," I told her lamely. That wasn't it. The truth was, was that I didn't want to be at risk of making her feel uncomfortable. The two of us had _just _let each other know that we missed each other, and spending the night at her flat definitely could make that awkward.

"You know," Teddy interjected, "you probably should stay with them, Scorpius."

I exhaled slowly, frustrated. _Damn you, Teddy, and your superb way of reasonably thinking._

"You probably shouldn't be alone at your flat tonight," he said. "With everything that happened, you might get a little anxious."

Now I knew Rose wasn't going to let me go back to my flat. I had had anxiety in our sixth year at Hogwarts. Anxiety so bad that would send me running from a room, my entire body shaking. Rose was the first one to point out my anxiety and I knew it worried her throughout our entire relationship. Now that Teddy had planted the seed in her head, she wasn't going to let go of it. She would nag me until I finally agreed to stay with them, worried I'd jump out a window or something.

"Scorpius, please-" she began, looking up at me.

"Alright, alright," I said, giving in quickly. I didn't want to be at risk of getting frustrated with her. I couldn't handle another argument with Rose. Not tonight, anyway. I had a feeling Rose and I would never be able to avoid our arguments. The two of us were too different not to be able to.

After Rose, Dominique, and I said goodbye to Teddy, who went back inside to get Victoire, we went back to their flat. Luckily, Rose didn't insist on me staying in her room, so I was perfectly content to sleep on the sofa in the living room. Just as Rose was about to retire to her bedroom, she stopped and turned back around to face me. "Scorpius?" she asked.

"Yeah?" I replied, rubbing my eyes tiredly and unfolding one of the blankets.

"Do you think Albus could hear us talking when we went into his hospital room?" She rocked back and forth on her heels. "You know how people say that a person in a comatose state can sometimes hear what's going on around them-"

"Yeah, I know what you're talking about. I don't know if Albus can hear us, Rose. I don't really think I want him to be able to hear us. I think if he was having any sort of coherent thoughts, they'd be about what he'd read in that note. For him to know that we were so completely clueless as to what was written inside the note and not be able to do anything about it… For him to feel so trapped and helpless in his own head… It would scare him even more than what was said inside that note."

Rose nodded before mumbling goodbye once more and hurrying into her bedroom.

**A/N:**

**Tired. You know the drill.**

**Written,**

**Anonymous;)**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Twenty:**

_You can say what you want but it's only getting better _

_It's alright, oh baby it's alright _

_You can try to deny but it's only getting better _

_It's alright, oh baby it's alright now _

_You think it feels right but you don't know _

_You've got everything you wanted but you're not sure _

_You can say what you please if it's all that you need _

_To believe it's getting better, you can blame it on me _

_There's a million ways to hold on _

_To everything that goes wrong, the sad songs _

_Oh but all these different reasons _

_Are just a million different ways to say the same old thing _

_Now tell me, "I'm not the one who needs the saving"_

_**-Blame It On Me; Parachute **_

**Scorpius Malfoy:**

Rose screamed. It was muffled, but I still heard it.

I bolted upright on the couch, ripped myself out from under the blanket, picked my wand up from where it had fallen out of my hand on the floor, and tore across the dark living room, down the hallway, and into her bedroom. I held my wand up, ready to attack. Who the _fuck _was in her room? Alex? No, it wasn't Alex. I had a feeling if Alex was in the room, I would know. It would be my intuition kicking in. I would _know._ Was it his house elf? I doubted this, considering the light from the moon shining through the window would probably make the elf's massive orbs reflect light. So, who was it?

Rose screamed once more, this time her voice cracked right in the middle of it, as if she were completely exhausted and couldn't take what was torturing her anymore. Finally, my eyes adjusted to the darkness of her bedroom . She was curled up in a tight ball on the left side of her bed, her hand covering her mouth. Nobody was in bed with her, thank Merlin. If that were the case, I'd probably kill the bastard who was in bed with her without even thinking about it. Rose was shaking violently and sweat stuck pieces of hair to her forehead. Her eyes were clamped shut and every once in a while, her body would jerk, almost as if she was attempting to break out of a paralysis… A sleep paralysis.

She was having a nightmare.

I couldn't believe I hadn't realized it sooner. I should have known the moment I saw her curled up form on her bed that that's what was happening. It used to happen to me every night. It should have looked so familiar to me that I should have been able to spot it instantly. I should have known what to do, but I didn't. I stood there, knowing that when I had nightmares, I hated when people touched me. I nearly ripped Minerva McGonagall's head off when she tried to pry me out of bed the night I relived my father's death in my dreams at the school. Plus, I didn't know what Rose was dreaming. Suddenly, Albus's words echoed through my mind.

_Do you think he raped her?_

I had pushed the possibility of Alex raping Rose out of my head since the night Albus had asked me that question, too disgusted to think about it. I knew it was cowardly, not facing what could have been a reality. It also made me feel like a horrible person for being too scared to pry it out of her. I knew it would have looked like a dick move at first, but if what had happened in the caves was so serious, to the point where it gave her nightmares, then prying might be my only option…

My heart ached as I watched Rose - my Rose - shake in terror in her sleep. I knew what she was feeling all too well. Trapped in her own head, the only relief was knowing that it would end soon, that it couldn't last forever. I clenched and unclenched my fists, desperate to do something. I knew I shouldn't touch her. It could send her into shock or something. But, I couldn't just stand there. I didn't want to shout in her face for her to wake up, either… Would shaking her awake be my only option? Slowly, I walked across the room, and as I did so, Rose's trembling got more and more intense. I knelt beside her bed and placed my left hand on the edge of the mattress and guided my right hand to her shoulder.

I shook her lightly, praying that it wouldn't freak her out too much. It didn't do anything. I shook her shoulder a little harder, and still didn't get a reaction, only her continuous shaking. Finally, I took both hands, shoved the left on underneath her arm that was trapped underneath her body since she was laying on her side, and placing my right hand on her other arm. I shook her hard this time, hoping that I wouldn't jerk her awake too suddenly.

Rose's eyes flew open. I expected her to scream again, but she just stared at me as if I were a monster. I pulled away instantly, not sure whether to say anything or not. Her big brown eyes were wide as her hand slowly fell from her mouth and to her chest. She gathered up the material of her shirt in her hands and held on tight as her breathing, which was very ragged and fast, went back to a normal level. She wasn't crying, which made me feel rather… weak. Every time I had woken up from my nightmares, I'd be crying like a baby.

Finally, Rose breathed, "Scorpius?"

I nodded, swallowing. "Yeah," I answered, running a hand through my hair. "Yeah, it's me."

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I… I can't believe I woke you-"

"No," I interrupted, sounding more harsh than I meant to. She cringed, clamping her eyes shut. My voice softened. "No… It's alright. You couldn't help it. I know you couldn't help it." I reached out and placed my hand on her elbow. She cringed once more, and I pulled away, startled, but she reached out and grabbed my hand with her own.

"I try not to scream," she said quietly. "I try _really _hard not to scream."

I didn't really know what to say to that, considering that when I had nightmares, I didn't give a flying fuckif I was screaming like a little girl. All that mattered to me when I woke up from those nightmares, was getting out of that damned sleep paralysis that would leave my unable to move. "You… You try _not _to scream?" I asked in disbelief. "Damn, Rose… Why? Why didn't you tell me you were having dreams? Why didn't you-"

Rose pulled her hand out of my mine and sat up, tangled in her sheets. Now her hair was damp with sweat and her cheeks were flushed. She kicked herself out of her blankets and stood up on the opposite side of the bed from where I was sitting. She switched on that only added dim light to her bedroom. Finally, she turned around to face me. "Why do you think?" she asked softly, pulling at the hem of her shirt and sitting down in the blue armchair next to her window. "I _couldn't._ You know it exactly how it feels, Scorpius," she said. "You know what it feels like to be terrified of going to bed every night because you're reliving something you can't even bare thinking about."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked, standing up from my kneeling position beside her bed. "What are you having dreams about?" I walked slowly over to where she sat and placed myself on the arm of the chair. Her damp hair stuck to her face and she bit her nails nervously. She seemed sort of out of it, as if it hadn't fully registered in her mind that she had just woke up screaming. "Rose," I said quietly when she didn't answer me. "Rose, you _know _you can tell me. I won't judge you." I was implying that she could tell me whatever went on down in those caves. I prayed that she would trust me enough to tell me what had happened, but I wasn't counting on it.

"You won't understand," she murmured, pulling her knees to her chest.

I stared at her incredulously, trying not to get frustrated. "You just told me that I know what it feels like to be terrified of going to bed every-"

"You understand _that, _Scorpius," she interrupted. "That's all you understand. You don't understand anything else. I'm alone on this." She met my eyes, and in that moment, I knew that I would _not _give up on her. No matter how bad the scenario in the caves was, no matter how screwed up Alex had made her, I would absolutely not give up on her. I didn't care if she begged me to move on, fell to her knees and pleaded that I let her handle this alone. When I had been horribly depressed over my father's death, Rose was there for me, and now it was my turn to be there for her. I owed her this much.

"You don't have to be alone," I said quietly. "I'm here, Rose. I'm _right here. _Tell me what happened and I'll help you get through this. We can do it together, I promise. I'm not going anywhere."

"You won't understand," she said again, her voice raising up an octave as she covered her face with her hands. "You won't want to be around me if you find out what happened. You'll think I'm gross. I'm not worthy of you anymore, Scorpius. You won't want me anymore if you find out what happened. I can't bare telling you that… I don't want you to leave."

"Rose," I said, attempting to pull her hand away from her face. "I just told you that I'm not going anywhere. I'm here for you, no matter what happened down in those caves, do you understand? I'm not leaving you here to do it alone. You mean so much to me, Rose," I told her sincerely. "You _still _do. You're all I think about when I'm not trying to figure out how to stop Alex. My feelings for you haven't changed and they're not going to. So you can either accept that I'm not going anywhere or fight me on it as much as you want. Either way, _I am not leaving you._"

I slid from the arm of the chair and back into a kneeling position in front of it so I was looking up at Rose rather than looking down at her. I pulled at her hands again, this time succeeding to pull them away from her face. "I want to hear you say 'okay,' alright?" I whispered. "Let me know that you understand that I-" _Love you? _Was that the right way of phrasing it? No… Even though I _did _love her, it was too early to spring that on her. So, I started over. "Let me know that you understand that I don't care what Alex did to you, Rose. Well, obviously I care… I'm going to rip his throat out the next time I see him. All I'm saying is that no matter what Alex did to you, I still care about you just as much as I did before. I still find you just as beautiful as I did before. Nothing Alex did to you can make me think of you as any less of a person, okay? Do you believe me?"

Rose hesitated for a moment before nodding. I stood up and offered her my hand. After pulling her up, I turned to lead her back to her bed so she could get some more sleep before the sun came up, but she put her arms around me before I could do anything. I returned her embrace, holding her closely to my body, hoping that I could convey _just _how much I really cared about her.

Then, she pulled away, seeming to remember something. "Alex won't like it," she said, her eyes filling with tears. "He's already on to us. He's already-"

I pulled her back into my arms and crushed my lips to hers. She fought it for a moment, but soon molded into my body. Kissing her was just how I remembered it was - the best thing in the world. She tangled her fingers in my hair just as she used to, and I wrapped my arms around her waist just as I used to. Everything in the world seemed to melt away as our lips moved together. All of my anger toward Alex, all of my worry for Albus, all of my sadness and guilt over my insane mother and dead father. Every last drop of negativity seemed to vanish from my mind, and replaced with pure happiness, along the dire need to keep it that way.

"Scorpius," Rose said finally, pulling away. "We can't do this." It wasn't that she didn't _want _to, her eyes told me that much. It was because she honestly felt like we couldn't. "Our families… He's threatened our families. He's threatened _you, _Scorpius," she whispered.

"I don't care," I told her. "He's going to try to kill me even if we did stay away from each other."

"But what about our families-" she began.

"I won't let him hurt your family," I said softly, pushing her bangs out of her eyes and behind her ear. "I promise, Rose. I'll do whatever it takes to keep him away from them." I stared into her eyes, hoping that she could see I was telling the truth. "Believe me," I begged. "Please, Rose. I promise that you're family will be safe. He won't touch them."

"He's already found a way through, Scorpius," she reminded me. "Albus is almost dead because of Alex-"

"Albus will be alright," I told her, though I wasn't completely sure myself. "No one else in your family will get hurt, I can promise you that. I won't let him hurt your family, Rose." I tried to hold her gaze, but she looked away. But in the few seconds it took her to look away, I could see that the safety of he family wasn't all she was worried about. "What else is there?" I asked. "What else is keeping you from me?"

She shook her head and looked down at her hands. "I've told you," she murmured. "I can't tell you."

"I know something happened in those caves, Rose," I told her, finally realizing what she meant. "I know that he did something… _bad _to you. I know it'll be hard hearing the words actually leave your mouth when you tell me, but I don't _care. _Whatever he did to you doesn't affect the way I feel about you, please grasp that." My tone was desperate. Only my words could convince her that I was telling the truth, but if she couldn't even believe my words, then what else could I do?

Absolutely nothing. The only other thing I could do was unthinkable… at least at that moment it was. If I were to do anything else, it would be pledging my devotion to her through that one question that could change both our lives… for better or for worse. It's not that I thought marrying Rose would turn out to be a bad decision on _my _part, but Rose choosing to marry me could possibly turn out to be a bad decision on _her _part. I had known from the very beginning that Rose was too good for me, too pure, too perfect. But she had said she missed me, she had stood there only moments before I had these thoughts and kissed me… Did she love me as much as I loved her? Did she love me at all anymore?

Plus, we were only nineteen. And I had feeling her father would find that a little fucking unacceptable.

Rose sighed. "You have know clue how much that means to me, Scorpius," she said quietly. "But…"

Before she could say anything else, I shook my head. "Don't worry about it anymore tonight… or this morning," I told her, glancing out the window, relieved to see that the two of us would probably be able to get at least an hour more of sleep. "The sun is going to come up soon. You should try to get some more sleep."

Silently, Rose crawled back into her bed and pulled the blankets up to her chin. Just as I turned to walk out the door, she said, "Wait!" I turned back to her, one eyebrow raised. "Can you…" She cleared her throat softly. "Do you think you could stay in here, please?"

I hesitated before nodding and walking slowly to her bed. Once I sat on the opposite side of Rose, I lowered myself into a laying position above the blankets. It was tense for a moment, but soon, Rose relaxed from her side of the bed, and just before I began to doze off, finally realizing how truly exhausted I was, her fingers laced through mine.

**A/N:**

**Sorry that took forever. :/ **

**I'm glad you guys liked the previous chapters! I know I haven't been as "peppy" as I usually am in A/Ns, but I can't really help it. I appriciate those of you who have expressed your concern for me in the reviews, but I promise, I'm fine! Boy drama. I'll get over it. No big deal. **

**I'm SUPER tired. Been studying for finals like crazy. It's almost summer, so I'll be able to get chapters out quicker hopefully.**

**I know the song doesn't really go with the chapter, but I listened it a lot while writing this one… So yeah.**

**Give me like two to two and half weeks to have the next chapter out. I know, I'm sorry. I'm really busy the next couple of weeks with school letting out and such, so I'll talk to you then! Unless I get the undying urge to write, which seems to happen whenever I tell you guys I'm going on a short hiatus… Anyway, thanks again!**

**You know the drill. Quotes, moments, etc that you liked? Let me know!**

_**Reviews make me super happy! So you should review. For my sake. Selfish, I know. :P **_

**Written,**

**Anonymous;)**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Twenty-One:**

**Rose Weasley:**

"Wow," Dominique said when she stumbled into the kitchen the next morning. "I _knew _I shouldn't have let you two have a sleepover." She looked from me to Scorpius, who was sitting on the couch while I stood in the kitchen, waiting for the kettle to start whistling. When Scorpius had walked out of my bedroom that morning, he had glared at the kettle for several long moments before flopping down on the couch. I supposed he hated the kettle for interrupting our almost-kiss in the kitchen the weekend before.

"And why is that, Dominique?" Scorpius asked, running his hand through his hair and looking at her expectantly.

"Your hair pretty much explains it," she answered, sliding into one of the barstools in front of our counter and taking an orange out of a bowl sitting on top of it. "I mean, Merlin, I know you don't take the time to comb your hair in the morning Scorpius… But this - _this _-is just inexcusable… If you two are going to have sex, at least take the time to comb your bloody hair into a presentable fashion…"

"Are you implying that I have sex hair, Dominique?" Scorpius asked slowly, glancing at me from the corner of his eye. To anyone else, it may have looked like the two of us were sharing some sort of inside joke, but I could see that that was not the case. He was analyzing me for my reaction at the Dominique's assumption. Dominique thought the two of us had had sex, and he thought that would bother me… Maybe even cause an emotional reaction… He knew. I swallowed and turned away, trying to busy myself. _Don't think about it… Don't think about it… Of course he knows! He pretty much told you that he knows… But how can he know? _

"That's exactly what I'm implying, Scorpius," Dominique said. I could hear the smile in her voice.

"Well," Scorpius said, "for your information, we didn't have sex last night. So, I guess I just have sex hair all the time. Which shouldn't be surprising at all." I could hear the smirk in Scorpius's voice, but I was too distracted to find his cockiness as cute as I normally did. My throat was tight and my movements were stiff. The night before I had been frightened from a dream. I wasn't thinking straight when I let Scorpius know that something _had _happened in the caves, but I wasn't going to tell him exactly what that something was. I was frightened and longed for his touch… My weakness was the reason my secret that I had worked so hard to cover up was out. Not out completely, but enough to make Scorpius wonder. And he obviously had, since he had said that he still found me as "beautiful" as before. What could Alex have done to me that could have made me less "beautiful" aside from the obvious? Scorpius wasn't stupid… He knew.

I jumped when I felt someone's hand on my shoulder, and spun around.

"Sorry," Scorpius apologized quickly, pulling his hand away and shoving it roughly through his hair. "Damn… I'm sorry. I didn't meant to scare you."

"It's alright," I said breathlessly. "I didn't hear you stand up." I looked away from him and walked over to the kettle, deciding that the water was probably hot enough, and rather than waiting for it to whistle, I pulled it off the stove and poured it into tea cups. I aimlessly mixed ingredients together, trying to ignore the feeling of Scorpius's eyes on me.

"Are we going to see Albus?" Dominique asked, oblivious to the tension between Scorpius and I.

"Er… yeah," Scorpius answered, tearing his eyes away from me when I turned around to look at him. "I guess we are. But after that, I need to do some investigating… We can't wait any longer. I need to question the elves and I need to get Verney to follow Abner around for a few days…" He got this stricken look on his face when he spoke of Verney. I raised an eyebrow questioningly. "I don't want Verney to be in any danger. You saw what Abner could do." I shuddered and Scorpius stepped closer to me, his hand hovering just above my wrist, a look of concern on his face, but then seeming to think better of it. Dominique's eyes flickered toward me when she saw my shoulders slump slightly.

I was beginning to get frustrated with my confusion. I couldn't handle it anymore. I wanted Scorpius so bad, I knew that much. I wanted us to be like we used to be. No, I wanted us to be _closer _than we used to be. But, that wasn't possible, not with Alex slipping right through our fingers. He had someway of knowing what was going on with us, meaning that he could be watching us at any moment… He could be watching us _right then. _

Those thoughts hadn't ever entered my mind, which was stupid. I had felt like I was being watched before, yes… But I had never actually registered the fact that it was highly possible that we _were _being watched or listened to.

Scorpius was saying something to Dominique, and when he glanced at me, he had to do a double take. "Rose," he said, dropping whatever he was saying previously. "Rose, what's the matter?" I hated myself at that moment. I was so obvious. Couldn't I be strong for a _few _minutes? Couldn't I hold my composure just until he left the room? Wasn't I capable of that much? "Dominique," Scorpius said quietly. "Do you mind giving us a few moments alone, please?"

I could barely hear Dominique respond. There was a whirring in my ears. What if Alex was listening to us? What if he could hear Scorpius asking to be alone with me? What if he was in the _flat? _My breathing began to quicken. I knew I was letting my mind run wild, but I didn't know how to stop it. What was happening to me? Before then, I could block these sort of thoughts out of my mind, but know they were tumbling in, full force. I could feel Scorpius's hands grip my wrists, I could hear he talking, but I could tell what he was saying. Tears filled my eyes as I stared helplessly past him.

Eventually, one of Scorpius hands moved from my wrist to my neck and the other to the back of my head, trying to get me to look him in the eyes. His voice was desperate now, begging me to look at him, to tell him what was wrong. I couldn't do it. Panic consumed me, talking over my entire body. I couldn't move, it's like I was locked in place. Alex was listening right then. I knew he was. But _how? _How was he doing it? How did he know everything that was going on? The horrible thought crossed my mind once more. _What if he was in the flat? _No, I tried to tell myself, it was impossible. Scorpius would know. We would know. It was just my subconscious trying to scare me, but that didn't mean it made it any less terrifying.

Finally, Scorpius gave up, dropping his hands and putting his arms around me, crushing me to his chest. I could hear him talking softly to me, quiet words of reassurance. He had one arm wrapped tightly around my lower waist and the other placed diagonally across my back so he could stroke my hair with his hand. I felt so foolish. I had absolutely no way to explain to him what had just happened. Even as I began to calm down, as my breathing slowed, and I collapsed into his body, exhausted, I couldn't think of a way to explain myself. _He won't judge me, _I told myself. _He's not like that. _I decided instead of worrying about what he'd think, I'd focus on his breathing. I would never forget the moment that I actually felt Scorpius's body move up and down with every breath he took. There was something so… amazing about it. I didn't know what to think of it, which only added to my confusion. The only coherent thought that ran through my mind while I matched my breathing with his was: _I want to spend the rest of my life with him. Nobody else._

I could feel his lips gently press to my temple, and once he pulled away, I looked up at him. "Better?" he asked softly, wiping away a tear that had fallen from my eye with his index finger. I nodded mutely and put my arms around his neck. "You scared me," he said, his voice muffled as he buried his face in my hair, wrapping his arms around my waist once more. I breathed deeply, finally fully relaxed. He smelled of smoke, muggle cologne, and sweat. His scent comforted me further.

"I'm sorry," I said quietly, pulling back to look at him. "I didn't mean to-"

He kissed me, this time much different from the night before. This kiss was gentler, yet more passionate all at the same time. He sucked on my lower lip gently before slipping his hand into my hair and sliding his other hand up my back. When he tilted his head to kiss me better, I slid my tongue into his mouth and he moaned, a sound coming deep from his throat. I smiled against his lips, having missed kissing him so much. Though I felt like we were in the wrong place to be doing this - the kitchen for Merlin's sake! - that didn't make it any less special. The kiss we had had the night before was great, but this was different. It was all of our emotions pouring out, not in words but in actions. I tried to convey how much I missed him and how much I needed him as I kissed him, along with the realization I had just had about not wanting to spend the rest of my life with anybody else but him.

When we finally broke apart, I couldn't help but smile at him. He flashed me _my _smirk, and slid his hand out of my hair. His white t-shirt made his eyes seem even mores silver. His cheeks, usually colorless, were flushed. I couldn't imagine what I looked like. My face was probably tomato red and my lower lip was probably swollen from Scorpius's kissing.

Scorpius breathed deeply. "Are you okay?" he asked, running his hand through his hair.

"I'm… fine," I said, surprised at how easily I had forgotten about my panic attack. Without thinking, I blurted out, "I just needed you."

He was quiet for a moment before he slipped his hand into mine. "I'm here whenever you need me." He thought for a moment. "Hell, I'm here even when you _don't _need me. You can't get rid of me."

I smiled at him again and kissed his cheek, and went to turn around so I could clean up the mess I had left on the counter from making tea. He caught my wrist just before I turned. "If you want to talk about it," he said, "I'm here."

I nodded, praying that the panic attack I had just had wasn't going to become something that happened on a regular basis. Though I had kissed him, that didn't mean I was worthy of him. _You're still disgusting, _a nasty little voice in the back of my head reminded me. _He's just in denial._ _If you tell him, he'll never look at you the same way again. _

…

"Do you think his parents already brought him his baby blanket?" Dominique wondered as the three of us stepped out of my flat and began walking down the pavement, toward The Leaky Cauldron. "Do you think he would _want _his baby blanket? Should we go get it?"

"For some reason, Dominique, I doubt Albus would appriciate if he woke up with his baby blanket next to him. Knowing him, he'll probably think it's _cool _that he was in a coma, and he'd want to look badass waking up from it." Dominique gapped at Scorpius. "Just trust me on this," Scorpius said. "Albus wouldn't want to wake up with his ratty old baby blanket next to him." Scorpius looked like he was getting sick again. It was the second time he had gotten a cold the past month. His eyes had slightly dark circles under them and his nose was tinted red. The last time he had gotten sick, it wore off after about two days. I guessed he had a sinus infection.

"You're sick again," I said as he glanced at me and discreetly laced his fingers through mine.

"I'm fine," he said, but as if on cue, he sniffed and sneezed. "Fuck." He rubbed his nose roughly. "Really, Rose, I'm fine. I feel normal." He changed the subject. "Listen, I have to go see Lily in a few days. They're having their Hogsmeade weekend." Stupidly, I felt a pang of jealously. I knew Scorpius wasn't interested in Lily, that the two of them were just close. But, I could help but feel sort of… left out, for lack of a better phrase. Lily was the only one who _sort of _understood what Scorpius was feeling. She had trusted Alex, just like Scorpius had trusted him. Though Scorpius was only best friends with Alex, I had a feeling that Lily had been in love with him. But that didn't mean it was different. They both trusted him, and he stabbed them in the back.

"They're having their Hogsmeade weekend…?" I prompted.

"Albus was supposed to come with me, but obviously that's not going to happen. You should come with me," he said. "I don't really want to have to explain to Lily what's going on alone, and with Albus in a coma, I'm going to have a lot of explaining to do…" He sighed, running a hand through his hair. I felt bad. "Then after going to Hogsmeade, I have to question Verney and the rest of the house elves on the Malfoy ring… I need to get my mum to St. Mungos… I need to figure out who the _hell _Maverick Hawk is and why I feel like he's stalking us… I need to find out what scared Albus so bad last night and what we can do to stop it… Then, above all, I have to figure out where Alex is camping out, because I swear to Merlin, if I have to live through another random attack, I'm going to rip someone's throat out…"

By now, we were at The Leaky Cauldron. We weaved through tables and chairs, and once we gained entrance to Diagon Alley, they three of us were able to apparate to St. Mungos without causing a scene. Once we appeared in front of the hospital, I began to feel sick. How hard would it be looking at Albus this morning, knowing that he hadn't woken up over night? I had a feeling seeing him now was going to really make reality hit home… Albus was completely gone and nobody knew when he was going to come back.

As we walked through the front entrance, someone bumped into my shoulder. I turned around to see a frizzy haired girl darting out of the hospital. I knew her instantly, from having to spend everyday of training with her. "Tempest!" I called. She paused and turned around. I gapped at her. Her face was splotchy and red from crying and her hands were shaking. Well… this was awkward.

Dominique began talking. "Hello, Tempest," she said. "How are you today?"

Tempest stared at us, her face a mixture of anger and humiliation. Without saying a word, she spun back around and began hurrying in the opposite direction. Dominique, Scorpius, and I exchanged startled glances. "What do you think she was doing here?" Dominique asked, and I shrugged. Suddenly, Scorpius smiled. "What?" Dominique demanded. "Why are you smiling?"

"Because Albus is so fucking sneaky," Scorpius said, shaking his head and grinning once more.

"What are you talking about?" Dominique asked, confused. I was right there with her. "What does Albus being _sneaky _have anything to do with- Hey! Watch where you're going!"

Now someone had bumped into Dominique. The three of us turned to see and average height girl with long brunette hair and porcelin skin. Her blue eyes were big and bright and they were filled with tears. When Tempest looked like she had just got done sobbing uncontrollably over someone's death, this girl managed to look graceful and delicate even though she had red-rimmed, swollen eyes and tears running down her cheeks. "I'm sorry," she said, and I nearly gapped. She was _American. _It was common to see American muggle tourists around London, but American witches were _not _common in our world. I assumed she was from the Salem Witches Institute, since that was the only school for magical beings in America. I had never really associated with anybody from Salem, due to the fact that Salem had a known rivalry with Hogwarts.

"I know you," Scorpius blurted out, realization dawning on his face. "You were at the club in Diagon Alley a few months ago, weren't you?" He waited for her to answer, but she had a blank face. "You're the intern from Salem, am I right? You're interning in Magical Law at the Ministry."

The girl bobbed her head, seeming surprised. "Yeah," she said in her foreign American accent. She had a somewhat annoying voice. It was sort of… valley-girlish. "Listen, it's really great to meet you and everything, but I have to go…" She sniffed and rubbed her eyes. "I guess I'll see you around." With that, she hurried out the door, not another glance behind her.

Scorpius stared after her. "I wonder…"

"What?" Dominique insisted, confused. "What the hell just happened?"

"Albus expressed… _interest _in her at the club that night. I wonder if she was here visiting him…"

"I don't think it would be surprising," Dominique said. "Albus can get anybody he wants. He's a Potter. I just don't know why he wouldn't tell us about her… I mean, there's nothing to be ashamed of. She's beautiful." She pulled at her sleeves and bit her lip. "Why didn't he tell us?"

"I don't know," Scorpius said. "But I have a feeling that there's something that he didn't think he _had _to tell us…"

Then I understood. Scorpius thought that Albus was romantically involved with the American girl or Tempest… And one of them was lying, acting as if they had a relationship with Albus to get to us. Since Albus was under a coma, he couldn't tell us which one was lying, therefore we wouldn't know until he woke up. "You think one of them is working for Alex," I said quietly, looking up at him, my eyebrows knit together. I could vaguely see Dominique's expression change from confusion to understanding out of the corner of my eye.

Scorpius sighed before nodding and running a hand through his hair once more. "That's exactly what I think."

**A/N:**

**See. I totally told you guys that it's like, impossible for me to go on hiatus when I tell you I'm going on hiatus. **

**Anyway. I really liked this chapter. I liked Rose's anxiety attack, and Scorpius being there, mainly because it sort of made up for Rose being there for Scorpius when he had his anxiety attacks in Her Eyes. For those of you who don't know what REAL anxiety attacks are, take it from someone who deals with them regularly. Some things triggers them, sometimes it just comes on at random. Mine are NOT from post-traumatic stress, obviously. Mine are just from being nervous. (Ha, yeah, poke fun at the awkward anonymous Fanfiction writer.) They come on super randomly for me and are a major pain when you're sitting in a silent classroom and start hyperventilating. Everyone's anxiety is different, and Rose's anxiety is sort of a more intense version of mine, though for different reasons, obviously. Which is why I find writing anxiety scenes easy.**

**I know the whole "Albus-Tempest-American girl" thing is pretty confusing at the moment. But, do any of you have any predictions? If you don't remember who the American Salem witch is, she was Albus's "goddess" in the first chapter.**

**Anything random you picked up on that gives you any suspicions to the Alex situation? I wouldn't expect you to pick up on what I threw in there until later, but if you do, please let me know. (:**

**Quotes, predictions, comments, questions, etc? Let me know. **

_**Reviews make the next few chapters totally filled with drama. I'm not just saying that. The next five to ten chapters are totally FILLED. ;) **_

**Written,**

**Anonymous;) **


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Twenty-Two:**

**Scorpius Malfoy:**

It was just as I remembered it. As Rose and I walked down the streets of Hogsmeade, the Hogwarts castle looming in the distance, I felt a pang of nostalgia. Though the occurrences that had taken place here the last two years of my schooling were the most challenging obstacles of my life, that didn't mean I didn't have bittersweet longing for things to be how they used to be. Things _now _were far worse than things were _then. _Back then, Rose was completely mine. There weren't any complications aside from jealousy and the hesitation of first love. I had my right hand man - Albus - by my side as I tried to figure out who was after us, and even though the two of us were in deniable about our friendship until the very end of sixth year, at least he wasn't stuck in a coma at St. Mungos. And though I didn't know who the murderer was, at least I knew where they were - in the school. I knew who the murderer was now, but it I didn't know where he was, which was even scarier than not knowing who he was and knowing where he was.

"It's weird being back here," Rose said quietly, looking up at me, her big brown eyes full of sadness. I nodded, lacing my fingers through hers. "Remember when _we _were just students at Hogwarts, coming down to Hogsmeade for the Hogsmeade weekend? Remember when I had to meet Teddy here with the rest of my family during sixth year? Then Dominique and I got into a huge argument, then I left and you followed me and we went to The Hogshead?"

I grinned and looked down at me feet. I _did _remember that. It was the first day Rose and I had hugged and held hands. I could I _not _remember that? "I think I recall something along the lines of that," I said, leaning down and kissing her temple. "It's crazy, isn't it, being back here? It's so strange… I can't believe that _we _were this gangly and short," I said, looking at all of the students scampering around. My eyes landed on a kid, probably sixteen or seventeen, standing against a wall in the entrance of an alleyway, his shoulders held high and his chin tilted up. He had messy dark brown hair that fell into his face and a strong jaw that made him look older than he probably was. The way he was standing - leaning against a wall, staring down his nose at every student who walked past him - reminded me of myself. I could almost _see _the snarky, arrogant air around him. I wasn't the most _modest _person, but I was definitely different from how I used to be. Did I honestly look like he did when I was his age? A complete asshole?

But myself wasn't all the he reminded me of… He reminded me of someone else… Someone-

Suddenly, the boy's eyes landed on something. He perked up, a haughty smirk slipping onto his face. He pushed himself away from a wall and began walking in the direction of us. His walk set me on edge. Shoulders back, fingers linked through the belt loops on his jeans. He didn't seem as if he were in any hurry. As if what he saw would wait for him. There was something _too _arrogant about it, to the point where it almost intimidated _me. _I found myself slipping my hand out from Rose's and sliding my arm around her waist, pulling her closer to my side. She looked at me questioningly as I turned to watch the boy as he passed us and continued walking in the direction that we had came. He continued walking until he reached a rather short girl, with medium length red hair. Someone who I recognized instantly.

Lily.

She instantly got a scowl on her face when she saw him. He turned on his heel so he could walk beside her, back in the direction that he had came. He grinned at her cockily and she shoved him about a meter away from her, no doubt telling him not to stand so close to her. He raised his eyebrows at her and she rolled her eyes at whatever he said. Finally, he slung his arm over her shoulder and she shoved him away once more. Though Lily seemed to be holding her ground pretty well, I had seen enough. It was my job as her older brother's best friend to step in when he couldn't. Slipping my hand back into Rose's, I strode over to the two of them.

By the time Rose and I got over to them, the two seemed to be arguing.

"Hey, Lils," I said, interrupting the boy in mid-sentence. He glared at me. Up close I could see that his skin was like porcelain. He had bright blue eyes surrounded my dark black lashes. Now he seemed really familiar. But _why? _Not only did he remind me of me, but of someone else… Not of Alex. Well, not _really _of Alex. Of course, his cockiness set me on edge because Alex was cocky. But so was Albus and myself and every fucking male grandchild in the Weasley-Potter clan.

Lily turned to me and I dragged my eyes away from the boy to look at her. "Scorpius! Rose!" She hugged us both briefly, smiling widely. The boy looked offended that she had forgotten him so easily. "How are you two?" Lily asked. "How's Albus? Is he doing any better?"

"He's fine. Or as fine as he can be, I suppose." I glanced between Lily and the boy. "Is he bothering you?" I asked, cutting straight to the point. The kid's angry glare turned poisonous and his pale cheeks - already stained pink from the cold October air - turned redder. He was tall for his age, almost as tall as I was, but I didn't let it phase me. Rose rested her hand on my shoulder, probably trying to get me to calm down, but I didn't care. Albus would want me to stand up for his sister if anybody was bothering her, which was exactly what I was going to do. It was the least I could do after he threw himself into a coma while he was trying to help me.

"Who?" Lily asked, her voice too high-pitched. I nearly ripped my hair out at her dumb attempt of covering up the obvious.

"Don't act stupid," I said pointedly, raising an eyebrow at her. "Is he bothering you?" I repeated.

Lily sighed and rolled her eyes. "No. He's just… Hunter." She sighed again. "Hunter, this is Scorpius, Scorpius this is Hunter. He's my older brother's best friend… You know, the one that's in a coma." The boy - Hunter - glanced at her before he looked at me. There was not one ounce of fear in his eyes. In that moment, when his eyes met mine, I didn't know _what _did it, but I had respect for the kid. Maybe it was Hunter's lack of fear, or maybe it was out of my own sheer stupidity, but there was something about the kid that reminded me so much of myself that I couldn't _not _respect him, as arrogant and disgusting as that sounded on my part.

I decided I would give this Hunter a chance. "I'm Scorpius," I said, sticking my hand out.

He eyed it before shaking my hand. "Hunter," he drawled in a very obvious American accent.

I heard Rose gasp quietly, but I managed to keep my composure. "May I ask you why you had your arm around my best friend's little sister? And why she had to physically _push _you away from her?"

Hunter didn't even blink. "Because she doesn't know that she's in love with me yet."

I raised my eyebrow once more as Lily sighed and blushed and Rose giggled nervously. "Have a good time explaining that to her older brothers, mate," I said, proud of myself for holding my composure so well even after the shock of figuring out he was _probably _the American girl's younger brother. After he left, I'd have to talk to Lily. I sighed internally. _Really _talk to Lily. It was going to be hard to break it to her that the boy that claimed to like her might end up stabbing her in the back. Again.

"Listen," Hunter said, turning away from Rose and I, only speaking to Lily. "I'm going to go. I'll talk to you later. But if you want to hang out, I'm going to be chilling with Callum and Eli, alright?"

Merlin, he was so American… It almost _hurt _to listen to him.

He grinned at her and Lily blushed despite herself. "I don't know _why _you'd think I'd want to come and 'chill' with you and Callum and Eli. But fine. If I have the undying urge to 'chill' with the three of you, I'll come find you."

"You will. You have every other time I've invited you to hang out with us." He smirked at her. "Later, babe." He kissed her cheek before turning on his heel and walking away. Lily stared after him with a blank expression on her face.

Finally, she turned back to us, her face flushed. "I hate him," she said, shaking her head. "I really, _really _hate him."

"Sure you do," Rose said, stepping forward and slinging her arm across her younger cousin's shoulder. Lily said something, but I didn't really hear her since the two girls had walked forward, leaving me to walk a behind them, which was probably a good idea, considering I had to come up with a way to tell Lily not to talk to Hunter anymore until we figured out if it was his older sister or Tempest Turpin who was working for Alex.

…

"So, Lily," I said after I handed the barmaid at The Three Broomsticks a galleon for the two butterbeers and firewhisky I had ordered and told her to keep the change. "This Hunter boy… He's American. I don't recall there ever being an American at Hogwarts when I went here." I took a swig of my firewhisky as I waited for Lily to answer.

"He's from Salem," Lily said, twirling a lock of hair between her fingers. "He came here with his sister in July. She's interning in Magical Law at the Ministry." Just I had predicted. So the American girl _was _his sister. The reason Hunter had looked so familiar to me was because he was nearly identical to his sister. Same porcelain skin, same bright blue eyes, same dark brown hair. "Why do you want to know?"

"Just asking," I said vaguely. "Do you know whyhe and his sister came here?"

Lily looked suspicious of my continuous questioning, but answered anyway. "She finished her schooling at Salem and she needed a way to make a living for herself. She and Hunter had money left over from their parents-"

"Their parents are dead?" I asked, surprised. Another thing Hunter and I had in common. Though my mother was still alive, her insanity left her basically dead to me. Now I felt pity for the kid. I knew exactly how he felt. Which was not good. It was never good to feel bad for the possible enemy.

"Yes," Lily said. "They left money for Hunter and his sister, but-"

"What's his sister's name?" Rose interrupted. "What's their last name?"

"His sister's name is Christabel. Their last name is Belvidere."

"Ah, so the kid's family must have originated from Italy. No wonder he's such a damned flirt," I said, shaking my head. Rose said something of that being beside the point and for Lily to keep talking. Lily continued to tell us that their family had left them money after they died, but it wasn't enough for Christabel to finish school and not work, so she moved here to work for the Ministry. She was top of her class when she graduated from the institute in Salem, and had a full ride scholarship to her internship at the Ministry. Lily said that Hunter had told her he was reluctant to move from Salem Witch's Institute right before his last year of schooling, but he didn't really have choice. Apparently, he and his sister were very close and he would do anything for her.

"So," Lily said once she was finished telling us about the Belvideres. "Why are you asking me so much about him?"

I sighed and opened my mouth to speak.

"You think he's working for Alex," Lily said suddenly, her eyes widening. "You do, don't you?"

"Lil, we ran into his sister last weekend when we went to visit Albus. She was crying and we could only assume that she had went to visit him," Rose said. "We also ran into another girl who was crying. Her name is Tempest Turpin. So, we're not saying that Christabel _is _working for Alex, we're only saying it's a possibility for her to be. But it's more likely to be her, because we don't know why Albus wouldn't have told us if he was seeing her-"

"Why wouldn't he tell you if he was seeing that other girl? Tempest?" Lily demanded.

"Well…" I said. "She's not the most attractive person in the entire world…"

"You think Albus would be ashamed that he had an ugly girlfriend?" Lily asked, scoffing. "Wow, you two sure seem to think highly of my brother, then." She rolled her eyes. "I can't believe you two are actually implying that Hunter is working for Alex. He may seem like an ass, but he's really not. He's different."

"I'm sure you thought that about Alex," Rose said gently.

"And you thought that way about Scorpius," Lily snapped. "You probably still do."

"Are you implying that _I'm _working for Alex?" I asked, confused. "Because if you haven't noticed, Lil, I'm the one he's after-"

"No, I'm not implying you're working for him, idiot," Lily said. "All I'm saying is that not every person in this entire world is bad." She glared at us, and I could suddenly see that betrayed little girl I had seen waiting for us in the Gryffindor common room once we had gotten back from the caves however many years ago. She had threw herself into Albus's arms, demanding if it was true. I had never seen Albus's expression so pained as he had to explain to his baby sister that, yes, it was true, and Alex had used her to get to us.

"Lily, I know it's hard," I said. "You just have to understand that-"

"That you're looking out for me, right?" she asked, scoffing and rolling her eyes once more. "You _don't _know how hard it is, Scorpius. You really, really don't. Yeah, he was your best friend, but you know what? He was my _only _friend. You had Rose to go back to, Albus, Dominique… You know who I had? No one. I've always been the She-Potter. Albus and James's little sister. 'Oh, she's so adorable' and 'Oh, she's just a doll, isn't she?' As much as people fawn over me, it must seem surprising that I don't have any friends, right?" Lily swallowed, her brown eyes - so much like Ginny Weasley's - filling with tears. "Alex _never _treated me like that. And you know who else doesn't? Hunter! I know what you're thinking, so don't even say it. If they're acting the same, then why do you trust Hunter? I just _do… _Okay? You have to understand that. Please. Just… try to understand."

"Lily-" Rose began, but Lily cut her off.

"I don't trust him completely," Lily said. "So don't think I'm being completely careless. Why do you think I pushed him away earlier? Not because he was bothering me, but because I don't want to get betrayed again. He thinks I'm playing hard-to-get… But I'm not. I just don't know what to think. The only reason I started associating with him was because I felt bad. He's new here. He was still recovering from his parents' death. I thought he needed a _friend. _I thought at least _you _would understand what I was feeling, Rose," Lily said angrily, before standing up. "Thanks for coming by today," she said, pulling her sweater off the seat beside her and shrugging into it. "I'll see the two of you at Christmas."

Lily hurried out the door of The Three Broomsticks, not bothering to look back.

I was sort of shocked that Lily had pulled the "I thought you would understand" card on Rose. I knew it made Rose feel bad, because when I looked at her, she was looking at me. "I should understand," she said. "I should because that's how I was when you came back during our sixth year. I thought you needed a friend. But, Scorpius," Rose said, "I'm scared that Hunter isn't like how you were. I'm scared that he's making everything up. Like Alex did."

"I know," I said, standing up and offering her my hand. "I'm scared too."

**A/N:**

**Sorry that took a really long time. Really. I'm sorry. I honestly needed a break. I had gone an entire twenty-one chapters without stopping to take a break unless it was like three days to a week. Not to mention, I had super painful writer's block. **

**Anyway, I know that you guys wanted some Lily, so there you go. **

**I was really hesitant to bring in Hunter's character. Like REALLY hesitant. I have had him building up in my head ever since I thought about making a sequel, so he's not some random "Oh-I'm-bored-I-need-a-new-character" thing. **

**I know I sort of emphasized the whole "American" thing on him. I know. I know. I couldn't help it. I figured I Americanized this whole Fanfiction so much that I'd make Hunter (the American) SUPER American. Haha.**

**So, any new predictions now? What do you think? Do you like Hunter? Do you think the Belvideres are bad? Or do you think it's Tempest?**

**I know, I know… I miss Albus too. He was the majority of my 'funny' quotes. **

_**Really don't feel like doing the whole "reviews make" so I'll leave it up to you guys. **_

**Written,**

**Anonymous;)**__


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Twenty-Three:**

**Scorpius Malfoy:**

"Attention!" Furor Gust shouted over the crowd of trainees. "Instructors, if you'd please get your squadrons under control!" He waited a few moments and eventually the talking died down and everyone looked up at Gust, who was standing at the podium, looking around at all of us. "Now, you've been working very hard these past couple months to condition your body and prepare your body for your midterms coming up this December. You've learned all of the basic hand-to-hand combat exercises and you've learned why it will be useful. Magic isn't always the right answer." He cleared his throat and grinned around at all of the trainees. "Now, I'm going to give the stage to Instructor Hawk so he can explain to you what you will be doing the next few weeks."

Dominique, Rose, and I exchanged glances. River, of course, had to look professional. Plus, he didn't really know that we were still suspicious of Hawk. We figured we'd only tell him if we had hard evidence that Hawk _was _working with Alex. Though River and Teddy had helped us several times in the past, that didn't mean that we wanted to endanger them again. I felt obligated to make sure that River was safe, just because it wasn't _his _war to fight. Of course, I knew he would do anything for Dominique, but Dom didn't want him involved in any danger either. I also felt obligated to make sure Teddy was safe for the sake of his child. I didn't want his son or daughter growing up without a father.

Hawk strode onto the stage. His piercing brown eyes landed on me first, then Rose, and then Dominique. A chill ran down my spin as his eyes lingered on Dominique. She looked at me out of the corner of her eye and I tried to tell her that it was probably nothing just by staring at her. Now Rose looked at me, her eyes screaming, _What the hell was that? _

Finally, Hawk looked away, and began speaking. "As Instructor Gust has said, you've learned that magic is, surprisingly, not always the answer and why hand-to-hand combat is useful. But what happens when you're wand was knocked out of your hand, off a cliff, and into a gushing river? The person - or _persons _- who you are battling have their wands, and there is no possible way for you to get yours back? What do you do?" He looked around at all of the trainees, his eyes seeming to land on every single person, before saying, then landed on me once more. "You run."

A chill ran down my spine. Rose's eyebrows pinched together in worry. Dominique bit her lip. _Where was Albus when I needed him? _These were the times that Albus would analyze absolutely _everything _then I would have his opinion on Hawks actions, along with my own. And our opinions put together usually came up with an explanation for what was going on.

"The majority of you are holding up well," Hawk continued, unfazed. "But for the next few weeks, you will be put through intense physical training, mostly running. We are not trying to train you to run whenever you feel like you won't win the fight. If that's what you're planning you might as well leave now. We are training you so you _can _if it is _necessary. _Only if you feel that you and your second are not capable of performing the task that you were meant to perform and you are at the very possible risk of being killed. Today, we are just going to see how far you can run. Outside of the gymnasium, we have set up a track. Once you have done as many laps as you can, you will tell your instructor how many laps you were capable of running, and your instructor will record it. In a month, we will test you again, and you will see a significant change in your capabilities. Please, follow your instructor outside, and they will tell you when to begin running."

So, our squadron - seemly oddly empty without Albus - followed River out the back doors of the gymnasium and gasped at what we saw. There was a massive track, three times the size of the gymnasium, sitting right in the middle of the grassy field behind the Academy. All of the trainees groaned at what they saw, including myself. I may _look _like a runner, but I definitely wasn't. River slapped me hard on the shoulder as he walked by and grinned, "Good luck, mate," he said under his breath. I rolled my eyes, but was pleased that River wasn't being all ass annoying with that I'm-your-instructor-so-I-_will_-act-like-your-instructor thing today.

Ten minutes later, Rose, Dominique, and I were all running around the track. Another where-the-fuck-is-Albus moments struck me. I was already starting to feel a stitch in my side and if Albus was there our normal bantering back and forth would be enough to distract me from it. Rose's and Dominique's talk about the color they wanted to paint the living room in their flat was definitely _not _keeping me distracted from the pain in my side. It wasn't only the pain, either. I was beginning to get hot flashes, almost as if I were feverish. _It's happening again, _I though dreadfully. I tried to ignore the random symptoms of illness that I would get on and off through the days, but they were beginning to get more and more pronounced. I knew Rose thought I was sick - she thought it was a sinus infection - but I knew better. I didn't know what it was, but I had a feeling Alex was doing something to me. Something to weaken me so I wouldn't be able to fight the next time he struck.

But _how? _How was he doing this to me?

Just as I was about to indulge into my thoughts, half of me hoping to distract myself from the now very prominent stitch in my side and the other half of me hoping to come up with a legitimate conclusion as to how Alex was making me physically ill, Rose gasped just as Dominique coughed. "What the hell, Dominique?" Rose said, stopping instantly and grabbing he cousin by the wrist. I stopped and faced the two girls. My heart dropped.

"I c- can't breath!" Dominique gasped. She coughed, trying to get air. "I'm serious-"

"Do you need water?" Rose asked, her voice frantic. "When was the last time you had water?" Realization dawned on Rose's face. "Dominique, when was the last time you ate?" Dominique could only grasp her throat and look up at her cousin in panic. Just as Rose opened her mouth to say something else, I stepped in.

"Go get River," I said firmly. "Go get him! Get Instructor Gust, too," I added. Rose only looked shocked as she stared at her cousin. "Go!" I said loudly, and finally she snapped out of it and ran across the middle of the track to get River.

"Dominique," I said, trying to hide how frightened I was as I slowly lowered her to the ground. She looked completely terrified. She couldn't speak anymore, only gasp for breath. "Dominique, don't look anywhere else but me. Focus on me… It'll be alright," I said, trying to remember if we were taught anything at Hogwarts to help a person breath again. _Think, Scorpius…Dammit, think! _Nothing was coming to mind. There was nothing to keep a person breathing… But there was something to clear her airways… It was worth a shot. I pulled out my wand and pointed it at her. _"Anapneo," _I said firmly. It was quickly made obvious that it didn't work.

I looked up in panic to see River dashing across the field, forgetting any professional manner that he had to keep up as our instructor. I saw Rose off in the distance, talking frantically to Gust. Hawk was right beside him, his eyes wide.

Once River got to us, he all but shoved me aside and knelt beside Dominique. "When was the last time you ate?" he said, echoing Rose's earlier thoughts. I gaped. I knew it was not an appropriate time to be surprised, but I couldn't help it. Did River know about Dominique's previous eating problems? It was sort of a secret within the Weasley-Potter family that Dominique had difficulties with eating. I was lucky to know about Dom's problems. I didn't think Dominique would tell River about her problems because I thought that that might be what caused her to break up with him. This girl was more confusing that Rose.

Finally, Dominique passed out, obviously not answering River's question. By now, Gust and Hawk were standing beside us, along with Rose who was kneel on Dominique's other side. "Instructor Connolly," Hawk said, not taking his eyes off of Dominique. "Perhaps it is best that you take Miss Weasley to St. Mungos. Immediately." He watched, an odd glint of amusement in his eyes, as River scooped Dominique's unconscious form up into his arms and disapparated without saying anything. But as we watched him go, the fear on his face was evident.

Rose and I exchanged a look, and without even speaking, we apparated too.

…

The entire Potter-Weasley-Lupin clan showed up within an hour of our arrival to St. Mungos, which was absolutely no surprise at all. Something couldn't happen without the _entire _damned family showing up. Fleur and Bill were frantic, but they were nothing compared to Victoire. She was sobbing uncontrollably to Teddy about how she should have looked out for Dominique more and how she just _knew _it would happen again after the first time it had. Teddy's face was pale as he rested one hand on Victoire's waist and the other on the back of her head, which was resting in the crook of his neck.

I looked away from them, cringing, making a mental note to give Teddy a hard time later about how emotional his wife was. I definitely did _not _want to ever have to deal with a pregnant woman… I glanced at Rose, who was talking quietly with her parents. Would Rose want kids?

_Whoa, whoa, whoa. What the fuck are you thinking, you idiot? _

Did I honestly just have that thought? Did I _honestly _just wonder if Rose would want kids? With _me? _I didn't even know if Rose wanted to get officially back together, for Merlin's sake! I was having thoughts about _kids _with her? The only way I would have kids with her would be if we were married… Which I wasn't opposed to, but-

Okay, I had to stop. This was not the time to be having thoughts about mine and Rose's future. Until we had the Alex situation under control, I could not think about this kind of stuff. I didn't want to talk myself into doing anything rash out of my love for her and putting her in _more _danger. I would not even consider asking Rose to marry me unless Alex was gone for good. But would I consider asking her when Alex was gone? Or were we just trying to relive the past?

My head pounded. Right. Definitely not something to think about.

Luckily, a tall healer with blonde hair and brown eyes stepped through the emergency room doors and began talking. "Dominique is fine," she said. Several sighs of relief echoed throughout the room, including River's, who was seated in the chair closest to the emergency room door. "We checked her body for any traces of poison that might have been planted in something she drank, but we didn't find anything. By the looks of it, she hasn't eaten in days and she hasn't drank very much water lately, either." The healer faced Fleur and Bill. "I would recommend keeping a close eye on her, just to make sure that she's eating and drinking enough.

"But I'd like to speak to you all about something that may be very concerning to you. While we were examining Dominique, we found several cuts up and down both her arms." River groaned quietly as the healer said this, his head falling into his hands. I knew that nobody knew about River and Dominique's relationship except for Teddy, Rose, Albus, and I. I hoped for River's sake that his presence in the waiting room wasn't too suspicious. Luckily, Victoire's crying hit a peak at this point and Fleur began to cry too, so nobody was paying any attention to River. "There's only a few likely reasons why her eating disorder and self abuse has started back up again. It may be a hard time accepting that her cousin is in a coma. Since she moved out of her childhood home recently, it could be the fears of leaving home the first time. But the one reason my colleagues and I find the most likely to be causing these reoccurrences is the abortion she had preformed earlier last year."

I gaped, my mind completely blown. Dominique? An _abortion? _Was I the only one who didn't know about this?

"_What?_" Rose asked incredulously. "Dominique didn't have an abortion! I would have known."

The healer's eyes widened as she stared around at everyone's shocked expressions. Victoire had stopped crying, only a look of pure astonishment on her face as she rested her hand on her stomach.

"Oh… Oh, dear…" the healer said quietly. "I assumed that all of you knew, since you're such a closely knit family. I'm so sorry," the healer said feverishly. "I can't believe I revealed this news to you in such a way… Oh, no… I'm so sorry!"

"She had an _abortion?_" River's voice low voice filled the room as he stood. "An _abortion?_" He stared at Rose, and then at me. "Did you know, Scorpius?" he asked. I shook my head, not sure how to answer his question in a way that wouldn't make me look like a complete as. _No, mate, I didn't know that your girlfriend had your baby removed from her uterus, sorry. _"Don't do this to me, Scorpius. If you're lying, tell me now."

"I didn't know," I said quietly. "I swear, Riv, I didn't know."

River's fist snapped back and then flew into the wall, crushing through it as if he has super human strength. A string of profanities left his mouth before he stormed out of the waiting room and into a lift. It was quiet for a long moment after he was gone.

"I know this is shocking to you-" the healer finally began.

"This is not possible," Bill Weasley said, finally stepping forward. "Dominique would have told us. That… that man who just left-"

"That was River Connolly," Teddy said. "He's… ah… he was my best mate all through school."

"You _knew _that he was seeing my daughter?" Bill asked his son-in-law, his eyes wide.

"I'm afraid so, sir," Teddy said sheepishly. "Both of them asked me not to say anything, so…"

"You didn't tell me?" Victoire whispered suddenly, looking up at her husband and pulling away from him. "You didn't tell _me? _Why? You didn't think I deserved to know?"

"Vic, come on-" Teddy began, his face pained. I felt bad for him. I knew I hated when Rose got all non-trusting towards me. It was a major pain in the ass, considering that you never meant to do anything. You either had a really good reason for not telling them what was up or you just didn't think you had to tell them.

"No, Theodore," Victoire said stiffly. "I can't believe you didn't tell me. You're… you're _unbelievable!_" With that, she stormed out of the emergency room, crying again. Fleur followed quickly after her, then Bill, and finally Teddy swore colorfully and ran after his wife.

The rest of the family could only look at each other. What the hell just happened?

**A/N:**

**And that, ladies and probably not gentlemen, is what was wrong with Dominique. Some of you guessed it from early on, some of you had absolutely no clue. But there it is. You can hate it if you want, but this is what it was from the beginning. Don't tell me it's "not what they would have done" because this is Fanfiction. **

**So, I've gotten a few reviews saying that it's going pretty slow. I know, I know. I'm sorry. I really can't help it. If it wasn't going slow, there would be huge holes in the plot. Better slow than fast when it comes to writing, you know? **

**Anyway. Thanks for reading, guys. I love you all dearly. Thanks for bearing with me through all of this freaky updating schedule lately. It's almost been a year since my very first HP Fanfiction that I actually was able to finish. Not Because She Likes You, was what it was called. I still have it up on here. Those of you have been with me from when I was writing that, I think you all are total troopers considering you stuck around for THAT which was ridiculously shitty. Like, Her Eyes and My Devotion suck but NBSLY was the epitome of suck. **

**Anyway, keep reviewing and I'll keep writing. I heart you all.**

**Written,**

**Anonymous**


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Twenty-Four:**

**Scorpius Malfoy:**

It had been an entire month since we had left St. Mungos after finding out the secret that had been tearing apart Dominique for an entire year and half. Rose and I had seen her a few times since then, but Dominique had always seemed oddly distant from us. Out of everyone Rose and I expected Dominique to be distant from, we didn't think it would be us. Dom had stopped coming to training and she had temporarily - or at least she _said _it was temporary - moved back in with her parents. Apparently, she needed time alone, which was understandable, but we didn't expect her to stay away for an entire month, especially with everything happening with Alex. It worried us, but we knew that we had to give Dominique her space. Dominique was known for exploding if something was bothering her, and it was best to leave her alone when that happened.

River had stopped coming to training for about two weeks after we had all found out about Dominique's abortion. Once he was back he treated us as if he didn't even know us. He didn't ask any questions about Dominique. He was our instructor, and that was it. There were those moments where Rose and I could see that River wasn't doing good at all, though. You could see the pain in his eyes. I felt for the bloke, though. I knew exactly how he felt. He loved Dominique with everything he had in him, just as I loved Rose with everything I had in me. He had lost her, which was one of the worst feelings in the entire world. But, it wasn't my place to talk to River about Dominique. It was probably best for Teddy to talk to him, but with Teddy and Victoire getting ready for the new baby, I didn't think Teddy had much time for anything lately.

Albus still hadn't woken up. He was still in the exact same state he was the month prior - unresponsive and vulnerable looking. Apparently, Rose's mum told her that Harry had had a breakdown over his son two weeks after the Dominique incident. Hermione had told Rose that Harry had gone to St. Mungos in the middle of the night and practically begged the healers to do anything - whatever it took, however much it cost - to wake Albus up. The healers had told him that there was nothing that they could do, that they could only wait. I was beginning to lose hope. I was beginning to feel that Albus _wouldn't _wake up. My best friend, my brother… gone. All because he was trying to help me. I put everyone I loved in danger every moment Alex was alive, out there, scheming.

We hadn't heard anything from Alex at all. Rose and I had done a extensive investigating on the Belvidere's and Tempest Turpin, but we came up with nothing but anything normal. The Belvidere's parents were really dead. Christabel and Hunter really had moved to London after Christabel finished her schooling in Salem. She really was studying Magical Law and Hunter really was a seventh year at Hogwarts. Tempest Turpin's mother's name was Lisa, her father had left them before Tempest was born, which is why Tempest had her mother's last name, rather than her father's. Both families seemed normal. Rose and I were stuck. We had no clue who could be working for Alex.

I had considered sending Verney out to find Alex, but I didn't want to put his life in danger. I didn't want to put anybody else's life in danger, yet I was doing it every damned moment I wasn't out there getting Alex. I felt like I was trapped in four brick walls, no doors, no wand, no way to get out. I had no idea what to do now, which is why I was gaping at Rose's most recent - and what seemed like most dangerous - suggestion.

"Have you ever thought about questioning Shroudrouge?" she asked timidly. Shroudrouge was Alex's father, the one who had come up with the plan of killing all the purebloods. The one who had planned my father's murder. The one who had spawned Alex with some street side whore and trained him to be a killer.

"Are you _crazy?_" I blurted out, not thinking about what I was saying. "Shroudrouge is the person who came up with all of this!" I gestured around wildly in the darkness of her bedroom, for we were laying in her bed. It was nearly midnight. Neither of us could sleep. It wasn't a rare occurrence for us, not being able to fall asleep. It was up to the two of us now to stop Alex, and of course that was enough to keep both of us awake on a regular basis. "Plus, how would we even get into Azkaban? Only registered aurors are allowed into Azkaban-"

"Teddy, of course," Rose interrupted. "He could get us into Azkaban to question Shroudrouge. Just think about it, Scorpius… He's been in Azkaban for nearly three years. He hasn't spoken to anyone… Who even knows what the dementors have done to him… He's probably not right in the head anymore-"

"Was he _ever _right in the head?" I mumbled.

Rose continued as if she hadn't heard me. "Maybe we could get him to say something to lead us to Alex. Maybe he would let something slip without meaning to. Maybe he'd say something about Christabel or Tempest. We wouldn't know until we actually tried to talk to him. Come on. At least give it some thought."

I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. "Rose… I don't think that talking to Shroudrouge is going to us any good-"

"I feel like you're giving up."

The moment those words left her mouth, I was sitting up in bed, staring at her incredulously in the dim light of the moon shining through her window. She thought I was giving up? What the hell was she talking about? It wasn't my fault that there was absolutely no clues or evidence obtaining to Alex. It wasn't my fault that the only suggestion she had wouldn't lead us closer to finding Alex. She thought _I _was giving up? Me, who had promised her that I was protect her and her family? Me, who she was depending on to get rid of Alex?

"It's good to know that you have so much _faith _in me, Rose," I said sarcastically, glowering at her. "It's not my fault that it's virtually impossible for us to find out _anything _about him without throwing ourselves out there and getting ourselves killed." Rose sat up, anger sparking in her eyes. I ignored the pang of guilt I felt in my stomach and continued talking. I knew things were about to get bad when I unintentionally let my voice rise slightly. "I'm trying to protect you. I'm trying to protect your family. I'm trying to hold it together while my best friend is lying nearly dead in a hospital bed. I'm trying to figure out what the hell I should do about my mother, who has gone completely insane over my father's death. I'm beginning to feel like you don't _understand _how hard this is. There is so much that we have to do before we actually go after Alex. First of all, we need to find out where he is. Second, I'd like Albus to wake up, because everyone knows that it's damn near impossible for me to fight without him. And third, we need to figure out who the hell is on our side and who's not before we make any big moves. How would you feel if we thought Tempest Turpin had absolutely nothing to do with Alex, so we figure it's the Belvideres, but it turns out it is Tempest? Rose, you don't realizehow much is at stake here."

Rose stared at me for a moment before standing up and walking out of the room, slamming the door behind her. I was such a fucking idiot.

I quickly stood up and followed her out the door. She had just barely made it to the end of the hallway by the time I caught up with her. "Rose," I said, grabbing her shoulder. "Wait. Don't…" I took a deep breath. "Don't get upset, please." I tried to turn her around to face me, but she shrugged away from me.

"Don't touch me, Scorpius," Rose snapped, still not looking at me. I clenched my teeth, trying not to get frustrated. As bad as I felt for practically telling her that she didn't know what was going on, when she probably knew better than anyone aside from myself, that didn't mean I thought it reasonable for her to act childish and refuse to look at me. "I don't want to talk to you if you're going to imply that I'm stupid."

"Oh, for the love of Merlin…" I muttered. "Rose, I didn't imply that you were stupid."

"Yes, you did!" she said, spinning around and facing me. "You said I don't know what's going on? Scorpius, I know as well as you do what's going on! Albus is in the hospital because of Alex and you claim I don't know what's at stake? _My cousin's life is at stake because of him!_" she shouted, surprising me. Well, this was getting out of hand rather quickly… I braced myself, figuring Rose didn't really mean to be yelling at _me, _just at the situation we were in. At least that's what I told myself to keep myself from also getting angry.

"I know," I said gently, "I know… I understand-"

"Stop talking to me like I'm a child!" Rose said angrily. "Stop trying to protect me. Stop trying to make everything sound like it's not as bad as it really is. I know you're worried about Albus, too. I know that you think about it all the time. You think I don't know that you miss sharing your flat with him?" I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to say anything that would get me into trouble. Since Albus and Dominique were gone, I had temporarily moved in with Rose. As much as I loved her, I wasn't ready to live with her yet. "You act like my opinions don't matter, Scorpius. I suggest something that might be helpful, and you shrug it off like because _I _suggested it, it's obviously not something we need to do-"

"You think I don't think your opinions matter?" I began, finally snapping. "For fuck's sake, Rose, I'm just trying to protect you from whatever the hell Shroudrouge might say if we go and question him. He was there when Alex- when he-"

"_Don't,_" Rose warned, her face draining of color. "_Don't."_

I took a deep breath, nodding. "I just don't think it would be in your best interest to go see Shroudrouge-"

"You're not my father, Scorpius. It doesn't matter what's in my best interest. I don't care if you're not going. I'm going, regardless. You can stay here if you want." She lifted her chin indignantly, and I sighed, frustrated.

But then, I almost laughed despite my frustration. Obviously, I wasn't going to let her go _alone. _She knew me so well.

…

Teddy and Victoire's house was picture perfect. You'd think that it was a model home that muggle realtors showed to muggle home buyers who would never actually furnish their home in that way, but claimed that they would just to convince themselves to buy the house. It was a big, two story house with a large front porch and big green lawn. The inside was… so _Victoire. _It was amazingly clean, smelled nice, and kept at a perfectly satisfying temperature for November.

When Rose and I got to Teddy's, Victoire had apparently just got home and felt completely terrible that she hadn't had time to clean up. The mess - which wasn't really a mess at all - was a clutter of expensive looking baby boutique bags sitting on the kitchen counter. All different colors, but most of them were pink. I assumed that Victoire didn't want us to know what the gender of the baby was yet, so when she took Rose up to see the bedroom that they were making the nursery, I raised an eyebrow at Teddy. "It's a girl, then?" I asked.

Teddy grinned and nodded from across the kitchen. The two of us were leaning against opposite counters, waiting for the girls to come back. "We found out yesterday." He was quiet for a moment. "It's so unreal, you know?" he asked. I stared at him blankly, because I didn't know. I hadn't ever had any children. Thank Merlin. Teddy kept talking. "We told Albus first… I didn't know if it was in the hope that it would wake him up or if it's because we want to make him the godfather-"

"_Albus?_" I asked incredulously. "The _godfather?_" But then, I thought about it. Albus would be the best fucking godfather that little girl could ever have. He would be the most protective, most understanding, most brilliant godfather in the entire world. He would be the best person possible for that little girl to look up to. I swallowed, and nodded. "I wouldn't choose anyone other than him to be my child's godfather, either."

"He thinks that our father would choose me over him," Teddy said, shaking his head mournfully. It really hit me at that moment how much Teddy loved his adopted family. He referred to Albus's father as his own, which I had never heard him do before. "Of course, Harry could never choose between any of his children. I think Albus just feels that way because he's the one who has needed the most disciplining when I never needed any. We're practically opposites, which is why Harry loves us both differently, but not anymore than the other. I feel so guilty, Scorpius, that I couldn't tell Albus that before he fell into that coma. I felt resentful towards him sometimes, since he was always so horrible to our dad, always claiming that I was the favorite… But now I know it's just because Albus has so much love and respect for our father that it bothered him that Harry wouldn't acknowledge it. Or he thought he wasn't acknowledging it, but he was. I wish Albus could see our dad now. He's a complete wreck without Albus."

It was kind of off topic from the baby situation, but I let Teddy speak anyway. It seemed like he needed to get this off his chest, and if he trusted me enough to tell me, I wasn't going to push him away. I didn't really know what to say, though, so I was grateful when Rose and Victoire walked back in the kitchen. "Well," Victoire said, smiling dazzlingly. "I suppose that you're all ready for dinner. If you want to go wait in the dining room, it'll be ready in about fifteen minutes."

So, Rose, Teddy, and I went into the dining room that connected to the kitchen and sat down. Rose and I sat at the opposite side of Teddy. "So," I began, cutting straight to the point, "Rose and I came here tonight to ask if you could do us a favor."

"I figured," Teddy said, nodding. "Does it have to do with Alex?"

I nodded. "We want to question Shroudrouge. We need you to get us into Azkaban."

Teddy opened his mouth, looking as if he were about to say it was a bad idea, but then thought better of it. "Do you think it will help you get any closer to finding out where he is?" he asked, leaning back in his chair and running a hand through his hair.

"We can only hope," Rose said. "We're hoping that since he's spent nearly three years in Azkaban with literally nobody to talk to, he might be going a little crazy. We're hoping he'll let something slip if we question him."

Teddy sighed, nodded, then was quiet for a tense moment. "I can get you into Azkaban," he finally said. "But you have to promise me that you won't tell anybody. It's against the rules for registered aurors to bring untrained wizards with them to Azkaban. But… I'm as tired as you are of Alex taking advantage of my family."

"So, when do you think-" Rose began.

"Tomorrow morning is probably the best time. Since it's Sunday, you won't have training, and most aurors only question prisoners during the week, so the place should be deserted aside from the dementors and the prisoners. There's one thing I have to ask you to do, though."

"What would that be?" I asked cautiously.

"Azkaban is one of the most depressing places anyone can ever step foot in. You can't let that sway you from the point of the mission. I don't care how you do it, but you have to prepare yourselves. Walking through Azkaban is never pretty."

**A/N:**

**Aw, I love Teddy. And I miss Albus. ): And I know you guys are missing Albus too, but I promise you, I'm not trying to torture you. Albus has a set time for when he's coming back, I'm not dragging his coma out for nothing. Things start rolling pretty fast from here on out, though, so Albus should be back in no time. **

**But anyway, the number of reviews and story alerts have had a MAJOR jump after the last chapter. Usually, when I check my email inbox for reviews/story alerts there's about two times after I update the chapter that I have on average 20 reviews/story alerts. But after the last chapter, every time I checked I had ranging for 15-20 reviews/story alerts. Mostly story alerts, but a lot more reviews than I usually get. (Mind you, I check three or four times a day.) So, I have no clue how that happened, and if you know, let me know, because I'd really like to figure out why all of you are loving it so much now… But to all the new readers, welcome, and to all the old readers, thanks for staying with me this long. **

**Oh, and this kind of off topic, but any predictions about Pottermore? **

**Anyway, thanks a ton for reading! I love you all dearly! Predictions, comments, questions, quotes? Let me know! **

_**Reviews make something big happen in the next chapter! Something that was actually supposed to happen in Her Eyes, but I waited until now… Just so I didn't torture Scorpius THAT much. **_

**Written,**

**Anonymous;)**


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Twenty-Five:**

**Scorpius Malfoy:**

It wasn't bad until we actually got _into _Azkaban.

Teddy wasn't lying when he said we needed to prepare ourselves, and sadly, Rose and I thought nothing of it after we had left his house the night prior. We had gone home, argued some more about visiting Shroudrouge - I was still trying to talk her out of it. The arguing had progressed heatedly, then I ended up feeling like a total douche bag and had spent the rest of the night apologizing to her. When we had woken up that morning and met Teddy, we were fine. Once we got to the doors of Azkaban, Teddy did some stuff with his wand and opened the doors and led us in.

That's when I felt like I had the fucking air sucked out of me.

It seemed like every bit of negative energy in the entire prison had slammed itself into my body. I instantly froze, my entire body seeming to shut down. I couldn't let it get to me, not now, not when I needed to be completely levelheaded. But, my mind seemed to be working on it's own now. For the first time since sixth year, my nightmares about my father began flashing in my head. _Running down the long corridor at the Ministry that led to his office, throwing the door open, my mind finally registering that it was my father's dead body right in front of me, finally looking at his face to see that his eyes, his eyes that I had inherited from him, were gone, completely gouged out…_

I felt bile rise in my throat. _No, you idiot, _I thought, _don't do this to yourself. _Out of old habit from my sixth year at Hogwarts, I looked down at Rose. She had always been my safe harbor after my father's death. I could look at her eyes and I would be fine. But now Rose wasn't like she used to be. She wasn't that safe harbor anymore. She _couldn't _be. She couldn't devote her time to making me better now. She had to take care of herself and let herself heal from what happened in the caves. And by the look on her face, that healing hadn't even began to start.

When I saw her facial expression, I instantly shoved every thought I had about myself away from me, knowing that she needed me now more than ever. I had never seen Rose look so defeated. She wasn't crying, her eyes were just very, very pained. There was no other word to describe it. She wasn't sad. She wasn't angry. She was defeated. She had been so strong after the Alex thing, and even though she had shown moments of weakness, it didn't completely tear her down. But this - the exposure to the prisoners' sadness, anger, and negative energy - finally broke her. And it broke my heart.

But, as bad as I felt for what she was experiencing, I took her hand in mine and led her forward. She would be angry with me for not helping her go through with what was her idea. I rubbed the back of her hand with my thumb soothingly as we walked several feet behind Teddy. Rose walked along beside me, clutching my hand as if her life depended on it. After a few moments, I leaned over and kissed her temple gently, praying that this visit to Azkaban wouldn't traumatize her any further.

Rose, Teddy, and I walked through the prison. It was very eerie. The majority of the prisoners sat in the back corner of there cell, glaring at us from the darkness. Every so often, a dementor would float past, which made me cringe. Teddy assured us that the dementors could not and would not use the "kiss" on us as long as we weren't a threat. Nonetheless, I kept my wand gripped in the hand that wasn't holding Rose's. We went up several flights of stairs, down several long corridors, and _finally _got to the corridor that Shroudrouge was said to be on.

"He's supposed to be in cell 672," Teddy said. "Right at the end of this corridor." I looked down the long corridor to see that the end of the hallway had a huge gapping hole that revealed a very stormy sky and an angry sea. _That fucker wasn't supposed to get an interesting view, _I thought bitterly, clenching my teeth. Before the three of us continued down to the cell, Teddy looked at the two of us meaningfully. "Are you sure that you can do this?" he asked. "We can turn back right now."

I opened my mouth, but Rose, surprisingly, beat me to it. "N-no, no… We have to do this. We have to see if he has any clues to where we can find Alex."

Teddy nodded, sighing, turning to me. "Are you sure that _you _can do this, Scorpius?"

I hesitated a moment too long. Teddy began to turn around, but I stopped him. "I can do this," I said roughly. "I really don't have a choice, do I?"

"You always have a choice," Teddy said, but began walking briskly in the direction of Shroudrouge's cell. Rose and I followed hastily after him. As we got closer, my heart began to beat faster. I hadn't seen this bastard in three years. The last time I saw him I was certain I would never have to see him again. Obviously, I was wrong. Before I knew it, we were standing in front of his cell.

His cell was appalling, but I supposed _every _cell in Azkaban was appalling. It was dirty and dark and well… depressing. _Good, _I thought, _that asshole deserves the worst possible conditions. _The cold stone bed sat in the corner, only a small rag of a blanket laying on top of it. A toilet sat in the opposite corner. I cringed. That was disgusting. The only thing that was missing was Shroudrouge. I was momentarily frightened that he had somehow managed to escape, but was proven wrong almost instantly.

I nearly jumped out of my skin with I saw the pathetic excuse of a man sitting against the wall that were attached to the bars. He was looking at me with an insane glint of amusement in his eyes. I could barely hold his gaze. I was so disgusted with this man. I had never hated anyone as much as I hated him, which was surprising to me, because until that moment I had thought Alex was the person I hated most. But this bastard was definitely worse than Alex. Worse than anyone I had ever met. This is the man who had planned my father's death, the one who had trained his own son to be a killer. The one who had kidnapped Rose and had watched as Alex had done things that I could even begin to imagine to her. I _hated _this man. I despised him more than anything else in the entire world.

"Scorpius Malfoy," Jester Shroudrouge croaked. He looked very obviously different than he had the last time I saw him. Before he had been caught, he had been a rather heavyset man with dark, slicked back hair. Since his time in Azkaban had begun, he had lost a lot of weight, to the point where it looked unhealthy, and he had gone bald completely. But his eyes were still the same. Dark and beady and… _disgusting. _"I had a feeling you would come to see me, eventually." He cackled crazily.

I clenched my teeth. _Now _Rose was the one stroking the back of my hand with her thumb, probably trying to keep me under control. "I can assure you," I said, "it wasn't because I _wanted _to. We're trying to find your disaster of a son."

"Andre isn't a disaster. He turned out exactly as I planned." Shroudrouge grasped the bars and pulled himself up into a standing position. He was very weak, telling by the way his hands shook as he steadied himself. "If you are here to see if I can tell you where Andre is, you're out of luck, because I don't know," he rasped. "But I can promise you, it's far, far away." I raised an eyebrow at this statement. "But he's listening," Shroudrouge said quickly. "He's _always _listening. He's listening at this very moment."

I shuddered involuntarily, regretting coming here. This man was not going to give us any information on Alex and his whereabouts. Just as I was about to turn back in the direction we had came, Shroudrouge began talking to Rose. "Ah, the beautiful Rose Weasley," Shroudrouge said softly. "I hoped I would see you again."

Rose stiffened beside me as Shroudrouge reached one of his shaky hands through the bar. Just as a he was about to touch her, I grabbed his frail wrist. "Don't fucking touch her," I sneered, shoving his dirty hand back through the bars.

Shroudrouge continued as if I hadn't spoken. "Andre was very… _fond _of you, wasn't he?"

Rose swallowed and looked at me. "I'm ready to go," she said. "He's obviously not going to be any help to us."

"I will never forget how you sounded, Rose, dear…" Shroudrouge said creepily. "I will _never _forget. Sometimes it's the only thing that gets me through the dark nights here." He grinned toothily at her, his now-rotting teeth exposed. Rose's face was mask of horror, almost as if she were actually _there _the night Alex had… done things to her. I still couldn't bring myself to think the word. I wanted to say something to shut Shroudrouge up, but there was nothing I could do to stop him from talking. "You were a screamer, weren't you, pretty?" Shroudrouge whispered. "Yes… A screamer. You screamed so loud… So full of emotion…"

Rose did something I never had seen her do before. Something I never expected her to do before, that is. She put her arms around me and buried her face in the hallow below my neck. "Please," she whispered. "I thought I could this, but I can't. Please… get me out of here." I had known she needed me, but never had I thought she needed me _this _bad. I wrapped on arm around her waist and glanced at Teddy, who was staring at Shroudrouge with shock and disgust and horror written all over his face.

"We need to get her out of here," I said quietly. "Right now."

Teddy tore his gaze from Shroudrouge, who was still muttering things about the night in the caves, and nodded. "Let's go."

…

Once Rose and I got back to her apartment, I led her to the couch and pulled her onto my lap. She rested her head on my chest and gathered the fabric of my shirt in one of her fists. We didn't talk for a long time. She was still very shook up about everything that had happened at the prison and my main concern was calming her down. I felt so bad for what happened at Azkaban. I shouldn't have taken her there. I should never have let her talk me into going. I should have known Shroudrouge would be absolutely no help at all. Although I felt bad, part of me was glad that I went with her. If she had gone alone like she had threatened to, I didn't know what Shroudrouge would have made of her.

"Are you okay?" I murmured softly, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

Rose looked up at me, her eyes revealing every bit of emotion she had running through her mind. She was scared, she was angry… but mostly, she was nervous. "No," she whispered, tightening her grip on my shirt. "I can't even imagine what you think of me right now, Scorpius. You must think I'm filthy." She looked so fucking disappointed in herself. I breathed deeply, frustrated with her for thinking that I thought of her any different now that I knew she had "screamed" in the caves. Of course she had screamed. She was terrified. Hell, I would have screamed too.

"Rose," I sighed, holding her closer to me. "You are the most beautiful girl I know. You are in no way filthy."

"I don't know how you can look at me the same," Rose said softly, covering her face with her other hand. I resisted the urge to rip it from her face and demand that she look at me, but I refrained myself. This was the first time she was actually sort of close to completely opening up about what went down in the caves. "I'm disgusting. I'm dirty. I'm not worthy of you, Scorpius. I can't let you keep thinking I'm how I used to be. I'm not… pure." Rose took a shaky breath and bit down on her lip. She was quiet for a moment before beginning to speak. "You implied once that you wouldn't have sex with me because I was a virgin. You wanted to wait until it wouldn't ruin our relationship. We were only sixteen, after all. But now we're nearly twenty. I'm not the same… I'm not… a virgin." With that, she began to cry, and all I could do was hold her - if possible - closer to me. She had admitted at least that. That she wasn't a virgin. Which officially proved that what had happened in the caves _had _forcefully ripped away Rose's innocence.

"It was supposed to be yours!" she sobbed, burying her face in my chest. "I'm so sorry!"

I pressed my lips to the top of her head, not able to speak. She had been saving it for me. She had wanted _me _to take her virginity from her when she was ready, not have it forcefully stolen from her by Alex. But what Rose didn't realize is that to me, she still was a virgin. She was still just as pure as she was before because Alex didn't count to me. Alex was a demented bastard who shouldn't be counted as a human being. "Rose," I whispered in her ear, "you are fucking _beautiful. _You are not disgusting. Or dirty. You _are _pure. And you are most definitely worthy of me. The only thing that scares me is that one day you'll realize that _I'm _not worthy of _you._"

"Then let me ask you this," she said, looking up at me, tears still streaming down her cheeks. "What if I asked you right now if you would have sex with me. Would you do it?"

I hesitated a moment too long, squashing the glimmer of hope that had appeared in her eyes. _Dammit, you're such a fuckup, _I thought to myself. The only reason I hesitated was partly because I was scared that this post traumatic stress shit she had going on would not allow her to have sex with me. Also, I didn't think she was exactly ready yet. And in all honesty, I didn't think _I _was ready to have sex with her yet.

"See?" Rose whispered, looking down and her shoulders going limp. "I told you."

"Rose," I said, placing my fingers under her chin and pushing her head up so she would look at me again. "I _want _to. Believe me, I do. But I don't think you're ready. Even if I thought you were ready, I wouldn't do it under these circumstances. I'm not that much of an insensitive douche bag. I would plan something disgustingly romantic. I'm a Malfoy." I smirked. "We do things a little bit differently than your normal wizard."

"You didn't with Fate Brown," Rose pointed out dryly, but that glimmer of hope had appeared back in her eyes. I nearly breathed a sigh of relief. That comment had assured me that my Rose was still there, even after the incident with Shroudrouge.

"Fate Brown doesn't count," I said, pressing my lips briefly to hers.

"Are you sure?" Rose asked when I pulled away, a smile flirting at her lips.

"How many times have we gone over this?" I asked, rolling my eyes. "This time, I'm going to prove it to you." I gently urged her off my lap, and she looked at me questioningly. "Go get dressed," I said, for she was wearing only jeans, a t-shirt, and sneakers. Usually that attire was the most beautiful outfit in the entire world. But I figured she'd want to wear something a little more dressy for what I was about to do.

"Why?" Rose said suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm taking you on a date."

Rose's eyes lit up and she grinned. "Are you sure?"

"Of course," I said, smirking once more. "All the time we've known each other, we've never been on a proper date. I think it's time we change that."

Rose kissed my cheek before scurrying off to her bedroom to do whatever the hell girls did before dates. I leaned back on the couch, grinning. There was a familiar pleasurable nausea in my stomach that I had only experienced a few times before. When I finally realized what it was, my grin widened.

Mother fucking butterflies.

**A/N:**

**(: You know I had to bring the butterflies back at SOME point. **

**Okay, so I sort of have some explaining to do about WHY the "thing that was supposed to happen in Her Eyes is going to happen in this chapter" didn't happen in this chapter. Mainly because I wanted Rose to sort-of-kind-of admit what happened in the caves before what happens to Scorpius takes over. PLUS, I also wanted to add in a chapter of fluff (which is the next chapter) before more angst begins. **

**I find I have this really horrible habit of telling you things that are going to happen, and then think of something I want to do so I do that instead… I really need to start writing outlines before I write these damn stories. Haha.**

**But anyway, I know the Shroudrouge thing was sort of pointless, but I needed it so I could lead into Rose's confession thingy. **

**Oh, and for those of you who have been wondering, there will be a sex scene eventually. It's not going to be THAT graphic, considering that I don't have this rated M and I don't know how old some of the readers are. I'll put a warning at the beginning of the chapter, so you can look out for that if sex scenes make you uncomfortable. **

**Okay. I shall be off! **

_**Reviews make the date superrr fluffy! ;) **_

**Written,**

**Anonymous;) **

**PS: Before I get corrections saying "dementors aren't Azkaban anymore!", know that I needed them to make Azkaban eerie. Sorry people who feel that Fanfiction has to be exactly how JKR would write it.**


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Twenty-Six:**

**Scorpius Malfoy:**

Something that I loved most about Rose was that she never actually had to tryto look good, but when she did, she looked stunning. I was nearly knocked breathless when she walked out of her bedroom an hour after I had officially asked her on the date. Her hair, which she normally wore natural, was pin straight and her fringe was braided across the top of her forehead and pinned into place behind her ear. She was wearing a black sweater dress that came right above her knees and black tights that disappeared into tan boots. I was glad that I had decided to go back to my flat and change while she was getting ready. I would have looked like a homeless person if I hadn't, considering I had rolled out of bed that morning and didn't bother changing anything more extravagant than jeans and a t-shirt. Now I was wearing darker jeans and white t-shirt with a black overcoat, along with my sneakers. It wasn't the most fancy thing I could think of, but my looks made up for it as they always did.

_Did you seriously just think that, you dipshit? _I thought, mentally kicking myself.

"You look…" I began, standing up from my spot on the sofa. "You look beautiful."

Rose smiled as she picked up her purse from off the counter. "You don't look too bad yourself," she said, her cheeks flushing from my compliment. "So, what do you have planned? Because I have a feeling you're going to need my help."

"I'm going to take you on an annoyingly cliché date. I've never been on a date you know, so we might as well go all out," I said as I held the door open for her. "You said once that doing things the muggle way relaxed you. So I figured we do something that muggles do. Which means, yes, I will probably need your help, considering I've never even associated with a muggle for more than a few minutes." The most I knew about muggles was how to count muggle money, since I lived in the heart of London and it was more convenient to walk down to the stores there rather than apparate to Diagon Alley every time. Luckily, I had muggle money on me from the last time I had hung around in the London clubs with Albus so I didn't have to go to Gringotts to exchange it for the date. I felt a pang of sadness as I thought of my best mate, but quickly shoved it away. This night was for me and Rose.

The two of us made our way down the stairs that led up to her flat and began walking down the sidewalk of London. "Well…" Rose said, getting this thoughtful look on her face. "What I've gathered from speaking to my mum, muggle boys usually take muggle girls out to dinner and to see a film. My dad always refused to take her on those kinds of dates. He said they were only for cheeky bastards."

I snickered, rolling my eyes at Ron Weasley's lack of class. "Haven't you heard? I _am _a cheeky bastard."

…

I couldn't believe girls actually _liked _doing this shit; sitting in a dim, too-quiet restaurant, barely speaking at all. But I figured since Rose seemed to enjoy it, telling by the small smile I would see appear on her lips every once and awhile, it was worth it.

I sat across from Rose in the fancy muggle restaurant, watching her as she read the menu and bit her lip. When we had walked in, I had contemplated sitting in the same booth as her, but I figured we'd look like fucking idiots sitting there all intertwined and whatnot. That was another thing I loved about Rose. She didn't pointlessly touch me and I didn't pointlessly touch her. The two of us could survive without running our hands down each other backs or arms every moment we were together. It made people around us uncomfortable, and not to mention, it was annoying as hell to have someone rubbing up against you every moment of every day. Personally, I felt it was better this way. When we touched each other when there was an actual _reason _to. Whether we were sad, or happy, or lustful. But not when we had absolutely no damned reason to. I felt like if we always touched each other, it wouldn't make it special when we actually were feeling strong emotions… As stupid as that sounded.

She was so cute, sitting there across from me with her hair falling over her shoulder and one eyebrow raised as she read the menu. It was almost odd to think that less than two hours before she had been sobbing nearly uncontrollably in my arms over what Alex had done to her. The two of us sitting here a muggle restaurant, for once not speaking about the Alex situation, almost made me feel normal. Like we were a normal couple, just going out to spend time together. Like I was a normal young adult who was contemplating things normal young adult men contemplated. Like whether I would marry her or not, what her family would think if we decided to get married, what my father would have thought, what my mother would have thought if she wasn't so fucking insane. But, would she even say yes? She had this whole idea that she wasn't good enough for me. If I married her, would she believe me? Or would she still think I was in denial? Would she even _want _to marry me?

"What are you thinking about?" Rose inquired, a smile flirting at her lips.

I flashed her a grin. "How do you know I'm thinking about anything?" I asked, looking at her evenly - since obviously I wasn't going to tell her what I was actually thinking - and nudging her foot with mine underneath the table. Tonight I would screw the whole "don't touch unless there's a perfectly valid reason to" rule because we were on a date. A date was _definitely _a perfectly valid reason to touch her.

"Because," Rose said, "I can tell by your face. When you're thinking hard about something, you raise one of your eyebrows and bite down on your inner cheek. Now, don't avoid the question. You avoid my questions by answering my questions with questions."

"You think it's charming," I told her, smirking. She opened her mouth to speak, but I cut her off. "You know it is, don't deny it." She stared at me blankly. Finally, I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "I was thinking about you, if you must know. But I think about you the majority of the time, so it's not anything new."

Rose blushed and I smiled. Why was she so cute?

Finally, the damned barmaid or whatever the fuck muggles called them hurried to our table and took out a odd wooden stick along with a pile of parchment all woven together at the top by a string of metal. I raised an eyebrow. I had never actually eaten at a muggle restaurant, I'd only ordered drinks from muggle bars, which I didn't even do that often. I'd heard horror stories of people putting shit in the drink that made you pass out, usually used to rape someone. I shuddered. "Hi, I'm Jessica, I'll be your server this evening," the brunette barmaid said. "Can I get you started with something to drink?

I looked at Rose expectantly, who said, "Water will be fine, thanks."

The barmaid turned to me and I glanced down at the menu and chose a drink that sounded vaguely alcoholic. "Er… I'll have a gin and tonic." For the love of fuck, the names of these drinks were insane. Couldn't they just have a normal "firewhisky" and be done with it? I shook my head as the barmaid scribbled down my order. Thank Merlin I was raised in a pureblood wizarding family. If I hadn't been, I'd probably be insane.

"Alright, one water, one gin and tonic… Are you ready to order?" the barmaid named Jessica asked.

_Here we go again, _I thought tiredly. I looked at Rose once more who didn't seem irked in the least. She seemed very comfortable here, actually, sitting in the a room full of muggles. I wondered how the hell she was doing it. It made me uncomfortable just to sit next to a muggle. I was afraid I'd do something stupidly magical and get shot by one of those muggle guns that they used…

"I'll have spaghetti," Rose said, biting back a smile, no doubt seeing the expression my face.

"I guess I'll have… the same…" I said awkwardly, nodding, not feeling like looking at all of the confusing muggle meals again. The barmaid nodded and bent over the table to pick up my menu, all but shoving her cleavage in my face. I coughed uncomfortably as she stood up and took Rose's menu, not at all as enthusiastic as she had been while taking mine, and hurried off back in to the kitchen, probably to poison my meal to show hospitality or some shit…

As soon as the barmaid left, Rose broke out into a fit of giggles. "You've never done this before, have you?" I glared at her from across the table, making her giggle more. "No, no, it was cute. You were being cute." Rose stopped suddenly, jealously flashing in her eyes. "Except when that whore nearly flashed you."

_Now _I began laughing. "She couldn't help it. I _am _stunningly attractive."

Rose rolled her eyes, but she grinned despite herself. "Yes, I suppose you are. I'm lucky."

I refrained myself from replying with something like "Yes you are" and said, "_You're _lucky? I think _I'm _the lucky one." I sighed and shook my head, looking for a different topic of conversation instead of this banter that the people around us probably found fucking annoying. "Have you told your parents about us? You know, sort of being back together?"

"They have their suspicions. Plus, I think Teddy let something slip." _Fucking Theodore. _"But whatever. They'll just have to deal with it. My mum doesn't really care, but my dad still holds a grudge on you know… Your family." She waited for me to say something that would probably ruin the mood, but I kept my mouth shut, even though my hatred for Ron Weasley was flaring. "He needs to get over it," Rose continued. "But I think they should be fine. Everyone else likes you. Even Hugo." She rolled her eyes again. "I got a letter from him the other day. He said he thinks you're 'cool' and the proceeded to ask me for money."

I rolled my eyes too. The last time I had seen Hugo was when Albus and I had gone to King's Cross to see Lily off for her last year of school. I hadn't talked directly to Hugo since he walked in on Rose and I making out in her hotel room the weekend of Teddy's wedding, and I didn't really have any desire to speak to him. Maybe now that he thought I was "cool" I'd make an effort.

Rose and I talked about pointless things for the rest of dinner, and Rose laughed uncontrollably when the barmaid came back and asked me to sign a small piece of white, thin parchment with black letters and numbers all over it with something she later told me was "ballpoint pen." The shit they named their belongings, these muggles.

After dinner, I took Rose to see some horrible film at a cinemas on the corner. It was about two muggles falling in love, then the two muggles getting into some huge fight over some stupid misunderstanding that would have been simple to sort out if the two muggles had just _talked _to each other about it. The male muggle ended up getting cancer the last thirty minutes of the film, and the female muggle forgave him for whatever the hell he did. She stayed with until the night that he died and the ending was all very emotional.

"People actually _like _watching that?" I asked as the two of us exited the cinemas, lacing my fingers through hers.

"You're just like Dominique and Albus," Rose said, sticking her tongue out at me.

I quirked an eyebrow at her and asked, "How so?"

"Albus has a pureblood mother and half-blood father. Harry didn't have the most… _pleasurable _life living with his muggle aunt and uncle, so we he was able to leave them for good, he never went back. The only for of contact he was with muggles is the Christmas card he sends his cousin every year. My Aunt Ginny was raised as a pureblood in a giant pureblood family, as you know, so she's never had to experience anything the muggle way. So, they never raised Albus to appriciate the muggle world. He doesn't have anything against it, he just doesn't really acknowledge it when he doesn't have to. Same goes for Dominique. Bill is a pureblood and so is Fleur, aside from her being a quarter Veela. Dominique's never had a reason to appriciate the muggle world, because she had everything she would ever need to know right in front of her. I'm different. My grandparents on my mother's side are muggles, obviously, since my mum is muggle born. I spent half of every summer with them until I was fifteen. They both died over the course of my fifth year, but I always miss spending time with them. Not all muggles are ignorant, you know," she said, surprising me. "My grandparents weren't." She sighed sadly. I squeezed her hand. "I got kind of off topic. All I'm saying is that Albus and Dominique don't really understand what it's like or why I like doing things the muggle way. When I was little, my mum used to teach me all sorts of things the muggle way. Sewing, cooking, cleaning… She still does it the muggle way, sometimes. Usually when she's sad or my dad and her have gotten into a fight."

I was silent for a moment. I never knew Rose had felt this alone when it came to certain things. I almost understood why doing muggle things were comforting, but not in a way I could relate to her with. It was simpler, it reminded her of her childhood. I felt sad for her because no one understood how she felt, not even me.

I stopped us from walking and slowly wrapped one arm around her waist, and lifted the other so I could bury my hand in her hair. Hesitantly, hoping I didn't look like a complete dick for not saying anything after her saying all of that, I pressed my lips to hers. Rose and I hadn't kissed much in the past month, probably because were scared of hurting each other again. But right now, I didn't care. I wanted to kiss her so bad.

Rose kissed me back, her hand sliding up my back and to my neck and her other hand resting on my cheek. The kiss got progressively more intense, and I wondered what the muggles on the street thought of us, but that thought quickly melted away. I sucked on Rose's pouty lower lip, just fucking cherishing how lucky I was. Her lips tasted like cherry lip gloss, which went with Rose so well. I had kissed several girls in my teenage years, and none of them could pull of flavored lip gloss like Rose could. Her hair spelled the strawberry shampoo, just as it had the night I had kissed her for the first time in McGonagall's office back in our sixth year.

As we kissed, I figured it'd probably be a little more private in her flat, so when I got the chance, I broke away from Rose, took her hand, and led us into the entrance of any alleyway, when nobody was looking I apparated us back to her flat, not giving a fuck about the noise. Before we had even landed firmly on the ground in her flat, I had my lips pressed to her again.

Rose pushed me against the wall, and moved her hand from my neck and cheek into my hair. She kissed my harder, finally slipping her tongue into my mouth. I groaned. I couldn't help it. She was just way too good. I took my hands from her hair and slid them down her back to her lower waist, where I proceeded to push her body closer to mine. I hoped I wasn't going to far, because I definitely didn't intend to have sex with her that night, but when my mind decided to work off of only pure pleasure and I broke away from her mouth and began kissing down her neck, I knew I was too deep in it and nothing was going to stop us.

Just as I was getting to a dangerous spot on her body - her cleavage - a blue light filled the room. I recognized it instantly as the light that a patronus gave off.

Rose and I broke apart, panting, to see what the hell had interrupted us. When the patronus completely materialized as a dingo, Rose whispered, "It's Teddy's patronus."

Teddy never usually bothered us unless it was something important, so knowing this, my heart nearly stopped, and then picked up speed, slamming against my ribcage a trillion times faster than it should have been. Rose grabbed my hand, squeezing it tightly, as Teddy's voice filled the room.

"Scorpius, please report to St. Mungos immediately. Your mother was found dead."

**A/N:**

**Dun, dun, dunnnn.**

**I didn't edit this, sorry. I've never felt more not in the mood to edit than I have with this chapter.**

**So, I tried to make it as fluffy as possible. And it turned out not that fluffy, just rather…dull. I feel like I do better with angst. I'm sorry. ): But yeah. So there's that chapter. **

**There were a few things I wanted to talk about, but I can't remember them now, so I'm going to just end this here. **

**Quotes, comments, etc.? Let me know! **

_**Reviews make stuff happen, as usual. I don't want to give too much away in this A/N. **_

**Written,**

**Anonymous;) **


	27. Chapter 27

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Twenty-Seven:**

**Scorpius Malfoy: **

I stared into my dead mother's coffin, a lump forming in my throat for the first time since I got to the funeral home. The last time I had seen her body was the night Teddy had called us to St. Mungos. When I had looked at her dead form for the first time, she had looked horrible. She had bags under her eyes from lack of sleep, cuts all up her arms from her insane scratching, and her hair had been knotted on top of her head. She looked different now. Somebody had untangled her hair and had applied makeup to her face. She looked like my mother for the first time in years. Red lipstick stood out against her pale skin and her hair flowed softly over her shoulders. Somebody had fixed the cuts on her arms and had dressed her up in black wizarding robes. She could have been sleeping.

But I knew better. She had killed herself.

I didn't know exactly what happened. Nobody did, aside from the muggles who had witnessed it. But from what I had gathered from the aurors who were investigating the suicide, it sounded as if she had finally snapped out of the world she was living in for the past four years and had apparated to the nearest muggle town. She had stabbed herself with a knife she had brought from the kitchen in front of all of the muggle shoppers. It sounded kind of suspicious to me, because my mother was never one to make a scene… But then again, she wasn't right in the head.

I stood the closest to her coffin out of the small group of people who had shown up. The Potter, the Weasley and the Lupin families had shown up to show support for me. I didn't know until that day that they didn't only think of me as "Albus's best mate" or "A Malfoy that the grandchildren decided to befriend." They came because they truly cared about me. It was comforting to have them there. A few of my mother's old friends from school had shown up. Also, some of my father's old co-workers who had formed a close relationship with my family had came.

It was so strange seeing my mother's cold, dead body laying in the coffin. Thousands of memories flashed in front of my eyes. One of my first memories, sitting in the kitchen as a small child, watching my mother attempt to throw together dinner for me and my father. My father laughed and kissed her temple, insisting that she didn't have to cook, that the elves could put something together. Years later, me falling off of my first broomstick and my father carrying me into the house, explaining sheepishly to my mum what had happened as she kissed my bruises and fixed my cuts. The day my mother said goodbye to me the first time I ever boarded the Hogwarts Express… She was crying, and my father had his hand wrapped around her waist as I stared out the window of the train.

My eyes stung and I looked down at my feet, unable to look at her familiar face any longer. She was my mum. She had taken care of me and my father and always loved us unconditionally. She had loved my father so much that his death drove her insane, and I didn't realize it until now, but that was the _best _kind of love. She loved him so much she wouldn't live without him. Though I knew that it was what she wanted so she wouldn't have to live without him, there was part of me that felt guilty. _So _guilty. I had told myself thousands of times that I would get her help, I would send her to St. Mungos. But I always had something more important to deal with, something that I needed to take care of before I took care of my own mother. The only time she ever needed my help, I wasn't there. I had left her all alone in that big, empty, cold house.

I didn't know how I could have forgotten about my mother so easily. I was so selfish. I only thought about myself and how badly I felt when my father died… I didn't even think about how she could have been feeling. I left her completely alone while I finished school and started auror training and partied with Albus. I was her son, who she'd taken care of, taught right from wrong. Though I was closer with my father, that didn't mean I felt less sad or guilty for my mother's death.

I looked up at the preacher or whatever the hell he was began to speak. I didn't even know what he was saying. My breathing had began to elevate. I could feel my hands shaking at my side. This was all too familiar to me. I had experienced something similar to this back at Hogwarts… Rose called them anxiety attacks. The only coherent thought running through my head was, _I have to get the hell out of here. _I couldn't stand it. My stomach was beginning to turn. My head was beginning to spin. Before I knew it, my legs were acting on their own, and I was striding out of the hot and uncomfortable funeral home, shoving past the people who stood in the way. I could hear Rose call my name as I pushed my way past her, but I vaguely heard Harry and Teddy holding her back, telling her I needed to be alone. They were proven right, because as soon as I threw open the door to the funeral home, I vomited up to water Molly Weasley had forced me to drink before the funeral into a flower pot.

My entire body was shaking as I stood back up from my pathetic hands-and-knees position on the cement ground. I looked out at the grassy hills that were covered in gravestones in front of the funeral home. Suddenly, my eyes landed on a gravestone off in the distance. I could barely see it, but I knew whose it was instantly. Then, I was sprinting past hundreds of gravestones, just needing to be _there. _Be that much closer to _him. _It seemed like an eternity, but finally, I was standing in front of what I promised myself I would never visit. My father's gravestone.

I stared at it for a long moment, my face wiped clean of any emotions. I carefully read the words engraved in the extravagant black marble.

_Draco Lucius Malfoy _

_June 5, 1980 - June 18, 2022_

_Sanctimonia Vincet Semper_

Nothing to explain his significance to our world. To my world. Nothing like "loving father" or "caring husband." The only words that held any importance were the words from our family crest. _Sanctimonia Vincet Semper, _meaning _Purity Always Conquers. _Until that moment, the words from the family crest had never bothered me. But the words engraved into my father's gravestone were the reason why he was killed. The reason why the Malfoy name was still feared and hated by muggleborns. It made me sick. My father wasn't just one of the Dark Lord's followers. He didn't even want to work for that wretched, demented, evil man. Voldemort wasn't even a man. He was a creature. A disgusting creature. He was lucky enough to have the easy way out - a painless death, while my family who had been forced to be his slaves were left to face the angry witches' and wizards' wrath. My family was in this situation because of Voldemort.

It always led back to Voldemort. Always.

This was the first time I had ever truly pitied Jester and Andre Shroudrouge. Jester was driven insane for what Voldemort had done to his family. It wasn't _his_ choice that he was born into a family of muggles. It wasn't _his _choice that he wasn't a pureblood. Then there was Alex. It wasn't _his_ fault that he was the spawn of a street side whore and an insane man. It wasn't _his _fault that he was brought up to be a mirthless killer.

But my hatred for the two men trumped the pity that I felt towards them. They had killed my father, which caused my mother to kill herself, leaving me as an orphan. Leaving me completely alone. I didn't share my last name with anybody on the planet. I was the last Malfoy left. _The last one. _

Those words hit me with a crippling force. I was the one and only Malfoy left and I wasn't sure if I could save my name. Alex could be literally anywhere_. _And somehow, he knew exactly what I was doing and where I was doing it. And it _terrified _me. Everybody I knew and loved was in danger. Rose, Albus, Dominique, Lily, Teddy, River… everyone. And the two people who I would always be the closest with, not because of the blood we shared, but because they were my mother and father, were dead. There was absolutely nothing I could do about it.

My father died trying to protect me and my mother, and I had fucked everything up all because I didn't have the _time _to send my mother to a mental facility. I knew that if there was one thing my father could have asked me before he was killed, it would be to protect my mother and for my mother to protect me. For us to remain _Malfoys. _Together until the end. Though my mum wasn't in the right state to protect me, I sure as hell could have protected her. And I didn't.

I fell to my knees in front of my father's grave, tears streaming down my face as I slammed my fists into the ground and ripping out grass as I brought them up. My entire body was shaking and I couldn't control it. I pulled at the roots of my hair and dropped my head into my lap, desperate to make the shaking stop. I still couldn't. "I'm so sorry," I choked, looking back up at the gravestone. "I'm so sorry, dad. _I'm. So. Sorry._" I kept repeating the same words over and over again, until they didn't even sound like words to me anymore.

It seemed like hours later, but finally, I was laying on my back in front of the gravestone, staring up at the seamlessly blue sky. I'm sure I looked like complete shit - my eyes red-rimmed and puffy, my hair sticking straight up. I had a pounding headache from crying so hard like the weak little bitch that I was. My stomach felt empty… Not like I was hungry, but like it was just a hole. It was empty. I felt like I would never feel any emotion ever again.

Eventually, a body lowered itself down beside me and slipped their hand onto my chest, up my neck, and into my hair. Rose's presence was the most comforting thing I could imagine, but it wasn't enough. Painfully, I looked down at her, desperately searching her eyes for what used to keep me from going insane after my father's death. Just as I feared, there was nothing there. I didn't love or respect her any less, but the relief and security her eyes used to bring me were no longer there. I understood why. It was because she was still healing from what Alex had done to her. She had to take care of herself before she took care of me.

Rose's eyebrows knit together at my expression, but I just pressed my lips to her temple, hoping to let her know that I would live through whatever the hell I was experiencing. For a long time, the two of just laid there in the grass. Rose ran her fingers through my hair softly, and as she did so, I took the time to be grateful for all she had done for me the past week and a half. Since my mother's death had not only knocked me off my feet, but down a fucking huge cliff, I was in no state to plan a funeral, so Rose did it for me. She was so amazing. She had planned the entire damned thing, also attempting to take care of me in the process. She had made me food that I barely picked at, she had kept me hydrated, she had stayed up with me all night when I couldn't sleep.

Needless to say, I had been a fucking wreck.

I loved her so much. She was literally all that I had at that point in time. I would never be able to repay her for what she did for me. I wanted to be with her for the rest of my life to prove to her that I'd be able to take care of her too. I would do anything it took to protect her. Not only from Alex, but from anything. I owed it to her after all the bullshit I put her through.

Eventually, the sun began to set, and sat up, pulling a tired looking Rose up with me. "We should probably get home," I said quietly, standing up and offering her my hand. Rose nodded and once she was also standing, she stood on her tip-toes and kissed my cheek before I wrapped my arm around her waist and apparated us home.

…

An hour later, I was sitting on the couch, staring blankly at the wall in the living room as Rose clanked pots and pans around in the kitchen. I vaguely noticed she was cooking without any magic. "Are you hungry?" she asked. I shook my head, and Rose said, "You really need to eat, Scorpius. You haven't eaten anything since Wednesday." It was Sunday now. "Can you at least drink some tea?" I didn't answer. "Please?"

I groaned, frustrated, dropping my head into my hands. "Fine. Tea. Whatever." I regretted being such an ass to her, but I was not in the right state to be talking to anyone. I was so mad at myself. At my father's funeral back in the summer before my sixth year, I had promised myself I would never visit his grave again. I remembered as I stared at all the visitors crying at the gravestones as my mother and I walked into the funeral home, promising myself I would never torture myself like the visitors were doing. They all went to "mourn" their deceased family members, but it looked like they were killing themselves in the process.

I shook my head angrily, suddenly desperate to talk to Albus. That fucker always knew what to say when I was mad. He always had some cocky remark that made me snicker. I _really _needed something to laugh at. But I couldn't talk to Albus. He was nearly dead. I had lost all hope in his recovery the night I was at St. Mungos after finding out my mother was dead. While Rose was talking to a healer, I walked off and found Albus's room. I had told him my mum was dead, hoping that it would wake him up. Hoping that _anything _would wake him up. But it didn't. I almost laughed at how much of a shock he'd be in for if he did wake up.

Finding out that he would be Teddy's child's godfather. Lily falling for a boy who could possibly be working for Alex. My mother being dead.

I sighed as Rose brought over a cup of tea, along with a piece of bread. She sat next to me and watched patiently as I downed the cup of liquid and bit gingerly at the side of the piece of bread. As soon as I swallowed, I felt like I wanted to puke. I clenched my teeth, suddenly feeling feverish. Where the _hell _did these sick feelings keep coming from? It definitely wasn't because I was upset or guilty… that nausea was different. I was definitely feeling sick because I was _sick. _

I sighed. Albus would know what to do. Or not. But it was comforting to think that he would. He would have something to say, even if it was just an assumption. I thought about it, smiling emotionlessly. He would start talking really fast and would say something like, "You're feeling sick again? There has to be something Alex is doing to make you feel this way… Maybe he has someway to control how your feeling. Not your emotions, but your wellbeing… Maybe we could get someone to work on Occlumency with you… But I suppose that's only to prevent access to your mind… Can you _shut up _for one minute, Dominique? I'm trying to _talk._"

_Hey, Albus, _I thought tiredly. _You'll probably be shocked to discover when you wake up that your best mate is going insane without you._

**A/N:**

**Lots of emotions in this chapter. He misses his parents. He misses his best friend. **

**Oddly, this was one of the hardest chapters for me to write. Like, ever. It took me three days just to write the second page. Scorpius admitted to a lot of things. Being scared, being weak, needing his best friend. **

**I know that some of you like the crying, angry, brooding Scorpius. But some of you think he's just being a baby. At least I'm not writing him crying in front of Rose. So don't comment on the fact that you think he's being "over-emotional" and "boys shouldn't cry" because his mother just died. Jesus. Think about it. Sorry, but that's just one thing that pisses me off. When people are like "he needz to be stronqer." Like, let's think rationally here.**

**So anyway, whose excited for DH 2? I'm so excited… oh my gosh.**

**Quotes, comments, etc.? Let me know!**

_**Reviews make the summary scene come up really soon. (: **_

**Written, **

**Anonymous;) **


	28. Chapter 28

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Twenty-Eight**

**Rose Weasley: **

His breathing came in ragged pants, his entire body was stiff, his face was empty of color. I sat straight up in the bed, flipped on the light, and ripped the blankets that were knotted around Scorpius off of him. Sweat poured down his face as he jerkily lifted his hands and grasped desperately at the roots of his hair. Frantically, I grabbed his wrists. He was yanking so hard on his hair that I was afraid he'd rip it from his scalp. Tears streamed down his face as his body shook with whatever emotion he was feeling in his dreams. "Scorpius!" I said sharply, not able to see him in pain any longer. "Scorpius, please, wake up!"

Nothing I did could wake him up. Eventually, I found myself screaming his name, desperate for him to open his eyes. Finally, I was straddling his waist, half-sobbing, half-yelling his name. "Wake _up!_" I cried. "Please, Scorpius, wake up!" I shook his shoulder's desperately, but he was still trapped in his sleep paralysis. Nothing I was doing was working, so I did something I was hoping I wouldn't have to resort to. I whipped my hand across his face so fast and hard that it made _my _hand sting and tingle. But it did the trick. His eyes flew open and he grabbed both my wrists, obviously convinced that I was a threat. Soon, he saw it was just me, and he dropped his hands.

There was a very tense moment of silence, and then…

Scorpius was sitting up and his arms were around me and he was holding me so tight I could barely breath. "Rose…" he whispered in my ear. "You're okay… You're okay…" He held me tighter, making it impossible to move, but I allowed him to do so, struggling to free my hand so I could stroke his hair. My heart was slamming against my chest, and I could almost feel his pounding through his chest, too. Finally, when Scorpius was completely satisfied that I was _there, _that he wasn't in the dream anymore, he rested his forehead on my shoulder and breathed deeply for several long minutes, trying to calm himself. He was abnormally warm. His forehead on my shoulder was nearly making me sweat. His chest, even through the t-shirt he was wearing, was very warm, indicating that he was running a rather high fever.

I ran my fingers through his hair, kissed his cheek, and pulled away to look at him. I nearly gasped. I had never seen Scorpius look so… what was it? What did he look like? I couldn't describe it in one word. His breathing was still pretty shallow as he stared at me, his face still pale as a sheet and his eyes wide, filled with… relief? I supposed he should be relieved, since he woke up from a nightmare that frightened him _this _much.

"Come with me," I whispered softly, taking his hand and leading him into my bathroom attached to my bedroom. I flipped on the light, and almost gasped _again _now that I was staring at him in the brightness. Sweat was literally _pouring _down his temples, and now that he was regaining the little color he had lost, his face was flushed horribly with the fever. I reached up and felt his forehead. It was hot to the touch. "Take off your shirt," I said, reaching around him and pulling a white washcloth off of the hook near the sink. Scorpius pulled his shirt off with out saying anything. For a moment I was distracted. Of course I had seen Scorpius shirtless before. _I _had been the one to take his shirt off at one point during our sixth year. But I was always oddly distracted when I saw his bare chest and torso. Scorpius was in no way "ripped" or "buff" but he was incredibly lean, with long, wiry muscles.

My heart dropped when I realized Scorpius noticed me checking him out. In any usual case, if Scorpius caught me staring at him, he'd have some cocky remark, asking if I saw something I liked. Even after his father had died and he was still mourning, he would have something to say. But the guilt over his mother's death was consuming him. He barely spoke throughout the days… Even if we went to the Burrow for dinner or even Teddy's, he would hardly speak. Him talking in my ear after he had woke up only minutes prior were the only words I had heard him speak since noon the day before. It had been two entire weeks since the funeral and he had barely eaten anything. Luckily, I was able to keep him hydrated, but he had lost a noticeable amount of weight since the night his mother had died.

I tore my eyes away from his body and turned on the faucet. After wetting the washcloth, I pushed his hair back out of his face with my fingers and ran the washcloth across his forehead, down his temples, and down his cheekbones. "You're burning up," I said softly. "Are you feeling sick?" He didn't reply. He only stared at me, his silver eyes still filled with relief. "Do you want to talk about what you dreamt of?" I asked.

Pain exploded in those relief-filled eyes. "I can't talk about it," he said hoarsely, relieving me and scaring me all at the same time. I was relieved because he finally spoke. I was scared because there wasn't many things Scorpius wouldn't talk to me about. It was strange, because it was only a dream… It hadn't really happened, so how could it have scared him this bad?

I nodded understandingly and stood on my tiptoes to kiss him. The kiss was brief, considering he didn't kiss back. I wasn't surprised. He hadn't kissed me back since the night before we found out his mother died. It scared me to death, because I would start to think that he had finally come to his senses… That he _didn't _think I was worthy of him, but I had to remind myself that he was torturing himself because he still felt his mother's death was his fault. He would think that for a long time… Maybe forever if he could never come to terms with his mother's death.

I was beginning to think that he wouldn't, though. I was beginning to think that he'd let the guilt of not helping her swallow him whole. I had to do something. Of course, I wasn't going to rip him out of his mourning stage… But I had to do _something. _Anything. I had to get him to talk to someone, and if that someone wasn't me, so be it.

Maybe he could talk to someone that nobody would ever expect him to open up to. Someone who he can relate to more than he'd ever think… Possibly someone like my Uncle Harry.

…

I had spent the rest of the night sitting on the couch with Scorpius as he stared blankly at his lap. I forced him to drink tea, and then water, but his fever didn't go down. I periodically checked his fever, but it was either thirty eight degrees Celsius or two or three degrees higher. I felt like I should take him to the Burrow to have my grandma see if he needed medical attention, but I would have felt horrible for waking her up in the middle of the night to just have her tell me whether I should take him to St. Mungos or not. I was sure I would _know _if he needed to go to the hospital.

All night, he didn't ask for anything or speak at all. The only trace of emotion he expressed was shown by his quirked eyebrow. Though his eyes showed nothing, his eyebrow showed that he was thinking very hard about something. I was dying to ask, but I knew that asking would only make him distance himself more from me. Now it was morning, and Scorpius had finally passed out on the couch, his fever finally reaching a point where I felt comfortable leaving him alone. As exhausted as I was, I had talk to my Uncle Harry. Luckily it was Sunday and I didn't have training. So I left a glass of water on the coffee table, along with a few crackers, with a note that said _I'll be back soon. Send a patronus if you need anything._ I walked to the Leaky Cauldron, where I gained access to Diagon Alley, and apparated to the Ministry.

As I road the lifts up to the second floor of the Ministry, I began to regret coming. I had never visited Harry at work before. Of course, I had come to see my dad and had seen my uncle in passing, but it was sure to be awkward since Harry and I were never particularly close. Plus, Albus was always the one out of all of Harry's children and nieces and nephews to visit him at work. It was going to be weird.

Once I was off the lifts, I found my way to the entrance of the Auror's office. The secretary sitting at the front desk in front of all the cubicles and privates offices looked up as I stopped in front of her. The young blonde secretary smiled, recognizing me. "Hello, Rose," she said. "Are you here to see your father today?"

"Er… no," I said, awkwardly. "I'm actually here to see my uncle." She stared at me as if she had never heard such a thing. "You know," I continued. "Harry Potter."

The secretary frowned. "Mr. Potter doesn't take visitors aside from his sons, daughter, or wife." I knew _that _line was complete bullshit. Harry Potter was one of the kindest people I knew. He would talk to a homeless person if they had asked for it. And _I _wasn't a homeless person. I was his niece for Merlin's sake! This girl was an idiot. She just didn't want to disturb the most famous wizard of all time.

I dropped my nice façade. "Just… let me talk to my uncle, please. It's urgent."

The blonde secretary sighed. "I suppose I could see if he'll take unscheduled visitors-"

"Rose!" a voice said from behind me, and I turned to face Harry Potter himself. My jaw nearly dropped. He looked _horrible. _His hair was messier than usual and his eyes had dark circles under them. He looked almost as bad as Scorpius. I had seen him at the funeral, but I had been busy supporting Scorpius most of the time. I hadn't had a chance to see him up close. I supposed I shouldn't have been surprised, considering his son was in a coma and had made no sign of waking up.

"Hello, Uncle Harry," I said, smiling. I briefly considered hugging him, but this meeting was already bound to be awkward enough.

He grinned tiredly, the smile not reaching his eyes. "Do you want me to get Ron? I think he's on his lunch break-"

"Actually, I was hoping to talk to you," I interrupted quickly. "Do you have a few minutes?"

"Of course," Harry said. He looked around at the blonde secretary. "Please hold anything I have scheduled until I get done speaking to Rose."

I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at the secretary as Harry and I walked around the desk and into his office on the right.

Finally, when I was sitting across from Harry in his office, his desk between us, he looked up at me and said, "I can probably guess why you're here to see me today, Rose." He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes tiredly before putting them back on again. "I'm guessing Scorpius isn't… coping well with what has happened to his mother."

I nodded. "He hasn't spoken for days… He barely eats… He gets only a few hours of sleep each night… I don't know what to do. And since you've dealt with… well…" I cleared my throat awkwardly. "A lot of _loss _in your lifetime, I was hoping that you might be able to help me get through to him."

Harry nodded as if he expected what I had just said. "Scorpius has gone through a lot the past five years, Rose," he said quietly. I resisted the urge to scream. He didn't think I knew that? "You have to give him time. I was never really one to push people close to me away, but I didn't particularly allow people in either… All I'm saying is don't give up on him. He needs the people who care about him most right now." Harry looked at the a small picture frame next to a pile of papers on his desk. I glanced at it, instantly saddened when I saw it was Albus, James, and Lily. Albus was standing in the middle, his green eyes sparkling magnificently in the light of the sun, one arm draped across James's shoulder, the other across Lily's.

"I'm sure…" Harry swallowed, still staring at the picture. "I'm sure it's very hard for Scorpius, not having Albus there with him. Sometimes it's easier to have someone of the same gender to talk to," he explained, when glanced up from the picture to see my somewhat offended face. "When my godfather was killed back in my fifth year, your father was the easiest to talk to." Pain flashed in his eyes when he spoke of his godfather, Sirius Black, but he covered it up quickly. "The bond between friends like Scorpius and Albus are unbreakable." He laughed humorlessly. "Who would have thought a Malfoy and a Potter could be such good friends?" Now Harry sighed. "All I'm saying is that Scorpius is dealing with a lot right now. Trust me, I know. He needs time."

I nodded, my eyes stinging. "I know he does. I just don't like seeing him this way. I think he needs to talk to someone, and if it can't be Albus… The next best thing right?" I laughed emotionlessly and Harry blinked, not catching on. I decided to cut straight to the point. "Do you think you could talk to him?" I asked quickly. "I don't need you to tell your life story, I just need you to let him know that he has someone to talk to. I know your busy… But just an hour of your time… Not even an hour. Thirty minutes. Just thirty minutes."

Harry was quiet for a long moment. I held my breath. He wouldn't say no, I knew that much… I just felt guilty for asking him to do something that might bring back any super painful memories. Finally, he sighed. "Yes, I can talk to Scorpius. Keep in mind, Rose, that I'm not Albus to him. To him I'm probably his father's arch nemesis from school. Don't be surprised if he won't talk to me."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you," I said gratefully. "Thank you so much."

Harry nodded and smiled, the smile once again not reaching his eyes. We arranged a day that would be good for him to come to the flat to talk to Scorpius, which would be the next day, since Scorpius wasn't going to training. After I said goodbye to Harry, I narrowed dodged my father outside of his office, and went back to the flat.

I found that Scorpius was in the shower, so I decided to clean the kitchen. Scorpius exited the bathroom fifteen minutes later, shirtless, his hair dripping, looking like an advertisement for muggle hair products. "Where were you?" he asked, leaning against the counter.

"I went to see Harry," I told him, wetting a washcloth and wiping down the counter for the third time, my nervous habit getting the best of me.

I glanced up at Scorpius when he didn't respond. He nodded without saying anything else, and left the kitchen, walked back down the hallway, and presumably into my bedroom.

When he had turned his back to me and walked away, I felt oddly empty, like I had lost something.

**A/N:**

**Kinda boring, I know… I just wanted you to see the state that Scorpius was in through Rose's eyes. Guys, I have to bring back Albus… Like ASAP. This story is boring to write without him.**

**For the love of God, that took me a long time to write. I was kind of rushing to finish this because I'm going to be gone until Saturday. Same place I was eighteen chapters ago, the place with no internet connection unless I go seek it out.**

**Anyway. DH 2 is better than I could have imagined. Alan Rickman is a god. Snape is a god. Snape has always been one of my favorite characters, right up there with Draco and Sirius, but Alan Rickman made my love for Snape skyrocket. Oh my gosh. Thoughts on DH 2?**

**I'm going to really try to finish this story before school starts. (Yes, yes… Anonymous is either a Sophomore, Junior, or a Senior… Want to guess? I want to see what your guesses are… :P Let's play guess Anonymous's age!) Anyway, expect two or three chapters either over the course of this week if I'm ridiculously bored or all on Saturday night.**

**Anyway, Scorpius isn't having a very good time, is he? Albus will be back soon, promise…**

**Quotes, comments, questions, etc…**

**I love you all dearly.**

_**Reviews make something good happen. **_

**Written,**

**Anonymous;) **


	29. Chapter 29

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Twenty-Nine**

**Scorpius Malfoy:**

Another month passed, and Rose and I became more distant.

It was horrible, but it was a relief at the same time. It was easier for me to punish myself without her trying to get me to believe that I was innocent. But she didn't understand. Both her parents were still alive and well, when both of my mine were dead, one of their deaths being completely my fault. I knew she was worried about me, but part of me thought that she _should _be worried about me. Things weren't getting any better, and as the days dragged on, my depression got worse and worse.

Rose began spending more time at her family's house, because I think I sent off vibes that told her I wanted to be alone, and if I was being completely honest, I did want to be alone. I didn't want her to have to suffer with me. She deserved to be happy. I think she felt sad that I wouldn't open up to her, but I _couldn't. _The only person I wanted to open up to was Albus, and that's because I felt like he was the only person who wouldn't look down on me for weakness. I knew deep down that Rose wouldn't, but I couldn't bare having her see me as vulnerable as I felt in my own head.

I talked to Harry Potter before I talked to her, which was strange, considering he was my father's worst enemy all through school. Rose had sent him to talk to me, and I still don't know if I was angry with her for doing it or not…

_I opened the door and there Harry Potter stood, his hair sticking up like a crazy person's and his bright green eyes glittering in the sunlight. He looked so much like an older Albus that it hurt to stare at him. Everything was exactly the same, right down to the way they held their arms at their sides. _

_I raised an eyebrow at him, hoping I wouldn't have to say anything to get him to tell me why he was here._

"_Hello, Scorpius," he said awkwardly. "I figured I'd come and see how you were doing." _

_For the love of Merlin, really? "I appriciate it, Mr. Potter, but I'm not in the right state to see anyone__-"_

"_I only want to talk, Scorpius," Harry said quickly, catching the door before I could close it. After stepping around the half-closed door and closing it, he grinned at me, the smile not reaching his eyes. "How have you been?" he asked, walking into the room like he owned the place. _So fucking Albus… _I thought sadly. _

"_I've been fine," I said curtly, walking across the room and sitting on the couch. I was momentarily grateful for Rose's cleaning habits. She kept the place spotless. I didn't want the place where I was living to look like a fucking wreck in front of Harry Potter. "How have you been?" I asked, remembering to be polite. _

"_Oh, I've been fine," Harry said, sighing, and sitting on the other end of the couch from me. "But I'm not here to talk about me today, Scorpius… I'm just going to cut straight to the point to avoid all the awkward small talk." I almost laughed, because that was also so Albus… Never one to beat around the bush. "I hear that you aren't doing too well, Scorpius, and I've come to see if I can offer you… guidance." He grimaced at the way his words came out, but I was grateful anyway. At least he was trying to break through to me. _

_When I didn't say anything, Harry kept talking. "I've experienced quite a bit of loss in my life, Scorpius," he said. "From the only father figure I ever knew, right down to a house elf that I didn't know how much I cared about until he was gone." I instantly thought of Verney. "I also lost my parents, but I was too young to remember much of it." He rubbed his eyes behind his glasses tiredly. "I guess what I'm trying to get at, is that as much as you think it's your fault, it isn't."_

_I doubted that. I voiced my thoughts. "Sorry, Mr. Potter, but for some reason, I highly doubt that." _

_Harry chuckled emotionlessly. "I know right now you want to think it's your fault, Scorpius. But this is really just your mind trying to give you a reason why your parents are dead. It's the easiest thing to do. You don't want to believe that their were sinister forces behind your parents death. It's probably hardest to accept your mother's death, because she committed suicide, and you probably feel that you could have stopped her… But I'm going to let you in on something my wife doesn't even know… The aurors and I are still investigating your mother's death, and… we feel that her decision to kill herself wasn't entirely her decision… Do you understand what I'm saying?"_

_I felt like I was staring at him through a tunnel. Did he mean what I thought he meant? I suddenly felt nauseous, and it wasn't because of my random as fuck feelings of sickness I had been getting… "Do you mean…" I had to pause to recollect myself. "Do you mean that… You think he used one of the Unforgivable Curses on her?" When I said "he" I mean Alex, obviously. _

_Harry nodded. "But we're only guessing. It would be incredibly hard for Andre to gain access to the Manor. As you know, the Malfoy Manor only grants access to Malfoys with a key. I know that after Voldemort's downfall, your father did everything in his power to add extra protection to the Manor."_

_I nodded, my mind racing. The only way Alex could have gained access to the Manor was if he had an extraordinary source of magic… And I knew from all the time I spent in the dormitories with him, Alex was mediocre. But he did have… "His elf!" I said suddenly. "He has an elf." _

_Harry raised an eyebrow. "He's muggleborn… How did he acquire an elf?"_

"_He didn't," I said. "Well… He did, but he didn't inherit it. The elf is voluntarily working for him to get revenge on my family. My father accidentally freed an elf of ours when I was very young. The elf used to be a Malfoy elf." As I spoke, it made more and more sense. How did I not realize this before? Elves have more power than one hundred great wizards combined… Of course his elf could gain access to the Manor! That explained the letter I had found in my parent's closet… along with the ring… I glanced down at the ring quickly. It had adjusted to my finger, so I was certain it wasn't a fake. But the letter my father had left me… I couldn't feel sad about that now. _

"_Why haven't you notified the Auror's Office about this?" Harry asked, not unkindly. _

"_Albus and I… wanted to be certain…" I said sheepishly. "Sorry." _

_Harry nodded, and chuckled, this time genuinely. "I would scold you, but one, you're not my son, and two, I used to be just like you and Albus when it came to big discoveries…"_

"_Er… Mr. Potter?" I asked hesitantly, hoping what I was about to ask him wouldn't upset him._

"_Yes?" he asked._

"_Do you think he'll wake up?" _

_Harry was quiet for a moment before sighing. "All we can do is hope, Scorpius. Knowing Albus, he wouldn't want us to worry, but it is easier said than done. It's hard when there's so much negative emotions surrounding the whole situation. Teddy feels horribly guilty, James is sick with sadness, Ginny and Lily are both terribly worried. Albus and I used to be very close, as I'm sure you know." I did know. "And I feel horrible that I let our relationship get so out of hand over something so small like who he'd be interning for before his real auror's training began… I of all people should have known how quickly someone can be there and be gone…"_

_He stared at his hands for a long moment before finally looking back to me. "Which is why I'm here. We got a little off topic, didn't we?" I stared blankly at him. "I'm here because I want you to know that it was not your fault, Scorpius. I know that right now you won't give my words a second thought, but soon, it will register that there wouldn't have been anything you would have been able to do, anyway." _

…

Harry was right - I didn't give his words a second thought. As soon as he left, my moment of pure consciousness melted away and even the discovery we made about the elf didn't matter anymore. But now, it was month later, and I still hadn't "registered" that there wouldn't be anything I would have been able to do, anyway. It was New Years Eve, and I was not feeling festive in the least. I sat at the edge of Rose's bed, watching her as she applied makeup to her already flawlessly beautiful skin, wanting to tell her to wipe all the shit off because she was gorgeous already. But the words seemed stuck in my throat.

Eventually, she walked out of her bathroom and leaned against the doorjamb. "I need to ask a favor of you," she said, her tone telling me that I had to do this "favor" whether I liked it or not. I looked up at her, raising and eyebrow, urging her to continue. "I need you to come to the Potters' annual New Years Eve party with me tonight."

I almost groaned. I had almost forgot about the Potters' annual New Years Eve party. The year before Albus and I had gotten fucked up on firewhisky and Ron Weasley's "mystery drink" behind the Potter mansion and woke up on the roof at three o'clock the next afternoon with the worst hangover either of us had ever had.

"Do I have a choice?" I asked, running a hand through my hair.

Rose opened up her dresser and threw my best jeans and coat at me. "No," she said. She gestured to the bathroom. "Get ready."

Two hours later, Rose and I were walking up the steps of the massive Potter mansion in Godric's Hallow. Rose and I hadn't exchanged one word on the way there, and she was fuming. I would be mad too if my significant other couldn't even speak to me aside from a few passing words here and there. I knew she was getting impatient, but I also knew that she was trying as hard as she could not to be, and I would be forever grateful for that.

Rose and I pushed open the door to be greeted by at least over one hundred people. The Potter mansion in Godric's Hallow is a place I had become very familiar with since Albus and I had graduated from Hogwarts. Since Albus and I had only moved into our flat the previous summer, he had lived here for two years after we were done with school, and the majority of the time, so did I. The Potters graciously allowed me access to their home, but I wasn't close with any of them like I was close with Albus, or even Lily. The place was so damned big you could go an entire day without seeing a single Potter.

I was instantly found by Lily, who I hadn't seen since the day Rose and I had visited Hogsmeade. "Scorpius!" she squealed, throwing her arms around my neck. "Oh, Merlin! I feel like I haven't seen you in ages!" She pulled away to look at me, and her face fell. "Scorpius, you look horrible." I smiled emotionlessly. A trait Lily and Albus shared - their bluntness. "I wanted to write," Lily said sadly. "But I had no clue what to say. I'm so sorry, Scorpius, I really am… I'm here if you need to talk, I promise!" Rose snorted indiscreetly and walked away, running a hand through her hair, frustrated. Lily watched her go. "Are you two fighting?" she questioned.

"No," I said. "At least I don't think so…" I sighed. "How's that bloke? The one you were with in Hogsmeade?"

"Oh, Hunter?" she asked brightly, her cheeks coloring. "He's supposed to be here later." Suddenly, she turned serious. I nearly smiled. I missed Lily and her constant chatter. I only had to fill in the silence with vague questions, and she'd spout off a novel. "Listen, I'm sorry I walked out on you and Rose at the Three Broom Sticks when the two of you came to visit. I was just so angry… I really like Hunter. I know it doesn't seem like it, but I do-"

"Lils," I said, swinging my arm across her shoulder. "I hate to break it to you, but it's very obvious that you like him."

"Really?" Lily asked, looking up at me, the brown eyes she inherited from Ginny Weasley wide, her cheeks colored. "I mean, it's not that I mind because…" Her voice dropped into a whisper. "I think he likes me too. I can't be completely sure, it's just that he sort of acts like it-"

"He likes you," I reassured her, nodding at Fred Weasley II as Lily and I made our way to the table that held several bottles of an expensive looking brand of firewhisky.

Lily shook her head. "How can you tell?"

"I'm of the male gender, Lily," I told her obviously. "I can tell. He likes you."

"Who likes you?" an American voice cut in. Lily spun around, and I turned to see Hunter Belvidere standing there, wearing his usual cocky smirk, his dark brown hair windswept and flaked with white snow. The kid still reminded me of his sister to no end, and he still set me oddly on edge. I didn't know whether it was because he liked my best friend's little sister or if it was something else. I prayed it was something else.

"Nobody likes me," Lily said hastily, quickly hugging him. He hugged her back lazily, his arm lingering around her waist. I nearly groaned at the look Lily gave him. She was in love with him. _So _in love with him. I could tell that he liked her, as I had just told Lily, but I couldn't tell by looking at Hunter's eyes whether he loved her back or not. He was so arrogant it made me want to punch him, but then again, maybe all Americans were like that. Unlikely, but not impossible.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Hunter replied, grinning at her, then looking back at me. "Hey, man, how's it going?" he asked, offering me his hand. _So fucking American, _I thought bitterly. I shook it, probably gripping his hand a little harder than necessary.

"I'm fine," I said, not bothering to ask how he was. I looked back at Lily. "I'll leave you two… at it," I continued awkwardly. "But if you need anything, let me know." There was a hidden message behind my words. What it really meant was, _If this little prick does anything that you're not comfortable with, come get me and I'll kick his ass._

Lily nodded, now completely distracted by Hunter. I rolled my eyes and stalked back off into the crowd.

I needed to find a bathroom, so I turned right down a smaller hallway that led to one of the three downstairs guest bathrooms, but before I made it to the end of the hallway where the bathroom was located, I was grabbed by the shirt and pulled into one of the spare bedrooms on the left side of the hallway, the door slamming and locking before I could see who my captor was.

**A/N:**

**Yeah, I know, you guys think Rose is being a bitch. Just remember, Scorpius has barely talked to her. Not just about his mother's death, but about anything. **

**Long A/N at the end of whatever chapter I finish up before I get home on Saturday.**

**Written,**

**Anonymous;)**


	30. Chapter 30

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Thirty:**

**Scorpius Malfoy:**

I had my wand out of my back pocket in less than a second, "_Lumos!_" I said quickly, half-expecting to see Alex standing there in front of me, an evil grin across his face. But I was wrong, and I felt stupid for not realizing it sooner. Rose stood there, her hands on her hips, her I'm-going-to-fucking-castrate-you look on her face. I was suddenly at loss for words, like I was so often around her now. I braced myself. I had a feeling I was about to get yelled at.

"What the hell, Scorpius?" Rose demanded. "What is the matter with you?"

_Everything, _I thought sadly, not able to answer her. She looked so beautiful. Her hair was straight as a board, her bangs twisted behind her ear. Her black party dress ended just above her knees and puffed out at the waist. I wanted to hug her, kiss her, promise her that I would get better _for her. _But I couldn't even open my mouth. I had an undeniable anger towards her, and I didn't know why. She had done so much for me the past month, the past four entire years, but I couldn't bring myself to answer her one simple question. What was the matter with me?

I stared blankly at her as her face turned from a mask of anger, to a desperate sadness. She pushed me against the wall, her hands clutching my shirt. "Say something," she whispered. "Say something. Say _anything. _I don't care what you say, just say something meaningful! Tell me how you feel. What's the matter? Are you angry with me?"

I still couldn't speak.

"I don't understand you, Scorpius," she said angrily. "You can't talk to me, fine, whatever. But then you go and talk with _Lily. _I've been trying to get you to talk to me for an entire month, I've helped you with everything, I've tried to get you help… And you still can't talk to me, but you can talk to my little cousin who you're not even that close with. Why can't you talk to me?"

I didn't answer, not bothering to tell her that I wasn't talking to Lily about my feelings, only talking with Lily about insignificant things that didn't matter to me. Rose's face fell, and my heart ached, but it was still trumped by the odd feeling of fury I felt towards her. I had never felt this angry at Rose, and I didn't know why it was elevating so quickly. My hands were clenched at my sides as I finally met her eyes, still unable to say anything.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" she demanded, and when I didn't say anything, something in her eyes broke. Was it her trust in me? Or how she felt about me entirely? I still couldn't speak. I wanted to, I was dying to, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I was so _mad _at her. I was afraid of what would come out of my mouth.

"Fine," she muttered, shaking her head angrily. She gave me one last chance to speak, and when I didn't she seemed to give up. "Happy New Years, Scorpius," she whispered, letting go of my shirt, and opening the bathroom door, then slamming it as she walked out.

When she let go of my shirt, I felt like she let go of me as an whole. And it broke my heart. I had lost her once, but I was not_- ever - _going to lose her again. She was too amazing, too beautiful, too kind, too smart, too… _perfect _to let go. I wanted her forever, and I had just let her walk out the door. I should have grabbed her, sworn to her that I would get better…

Then I was running. I bolted out of the bathroom, nearly slamming into Dominique at the end of the hallway. She tried to grab my arm, but I shrugged her off. I would feel bad for it later, considering I hadn't seen her in an entire month, but I didn't have time to talk to her. I had to find Rose. If I was lucky, she would still be in the front lawn, having not disapparated yet.

I flung open the door, forcing myself to turn back and shut it. If Rose was out there, I did _not _want the entire fucking Weasley-Potter-Lupin-Whoever the hell else is in that damned family clan to hear the words Rose and I were about to exchange.

"Wait!" I yelled when I saw her fire-red locks walking farther away from the house. She turned around, and I was suddenly knocked breathless with anger. What the hell? Why was I so mad at her? What did she do to me?

I walked slowly closer to her, determined not to screw things up, because even though I was mad at her now, I knew I'd regret it later. "Just… wait," I said, stopping a few meters away from her. "Please. Let me talk."

Rose waited, her eyes puffy from the tears that she was trying to hide from me.

"Rose," I said, running a hand through my hair. "I'm sorry. I know that you're mad at me."

"I'm not mad at you Scorpius," she said quietly, and that's when I blew up.

"That's _bullshit, _and you know it!" I yelled. "You know it is, Rose! Don't lie to me!"

"Fine!" she snapped. "Fine, I'm mad at you. But I'm not mad at you for mourning your mother, Scorpius, so if that's why you're mad at me, you can stop right there. I'm mad because you won't talk to me about it. You talked to me about your father's death, so why can't you talk to me about your mother's? I'm here, I've been telling you I'm here, and you can't talk to me about it!"

Then, I knew why I was mad at her. It was like a massive sign right in front of me. I felt so stupid. Why didn't I see it before? I was mad at her for the exact reason she was mad at me. Because she couldn't talk to me about what had happened down in the caves with Alex. Yes, she had admitted he had taken her virginity, but she never actually said the word. The word that described exactly what he did. The word that would sum up everything he did all at once. She didn't trust me, which made me not trust her.

I knew what I was about to do was cruel, but if I didn't do it, our relationship would stay exactly where it was forever. "Tell me," I said, my voice very low, "what he did to you."

Rose's face paled. "Scorpius, I've told you. You know what he did to me."

"Say the word," I said quietly. "We won't go anywhere unless we have everything out in the open."

"Scorpius_-_" she began, her voice thick with tears.

"Say it. I need to know that you trust me. If you don't trust me, I don't trust you." I was shaking. I wasn't angry anymore, I wasn't sad either… I didn't know what I was feeling. My mind was running wild with all different emotions.

"Don't make me do this," she begged. "Please, don't make me do this."

I held my ground. Our relationship needed this. We couldn't go on for the rest of our lives like angst ridden teenagers with trust issues. "Say it, Rose."

"I can't_-_"

"Say it," I said again.

"Scorpius, I_-_"

"Say it!"

"_He raped me!" _she finally screamed, falling to her knees and covering her face with her hands. I was surprised that _I _didn't fall to my knees also. All the air was knocked out of me. I wondered why I felt so… emotional about it. A lump formed in my throat as I stared at her sobbing on the ground, her entire body shaking. I was momentarily worried that she was right all along. That I _did _find her dirty and not worthy. But that wasn't the case. Not at all. She had admitted it, and now that she had said it, I loved her more than ever.

I resisted the urge to step forward and put my arms around her. Something told me that she didn't want to be touched. Eventually, she looked up. "Are you happy now?" she demanded through her tears, making my heart sink. Of course I knew she would be mad at me, but I hadn't prepared myself for it. I simply stared at her, ready to take whatever she said to me with grace. I had forced her to admit something that had traumatized her for life, and though I didn't regret it, that didn't mean I didn't feel bad.

She sniffed, rubbed her eyes, and stood up. "I told you," she said. "I told you you'd be disgusted."

"Rose," I said, shaking my head. "I'm not disgusted by you. I've told you before that I'm not disgusted by you."

"Let me ask you something," she said, her voice shaking with an emotion I couldn't identify. I raised an eyebrow, urging her to continue. "How could you ask me to say what I just said, and not saying anything back?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused. I did say something back… I had told her that I wasn't disgusted by her.

"You know exactly what I mean, Scorpius. Three words. Eight letters. If you care so much about me, how could you force me to say something that _I was not ready to say _and not say something that meant anything in return? If you care _that much _you would say that eight letter sentence."

_She wanted me to tell her that I loved her. _"I love you," I said automatically.

She shook her head sadly. "It's too late," she said softly, her voice barely audible. "If you loved me, you would have known what I meant from the very beginning of this conversation." I opened my mouth to speak, but she cut me off. "I understand. I don't want you to make excuses for yourself, Scorpius. I want you to do what's best for you right now." _What the hell was the matter with her? Had the incident in the caves caused her to have trust issues too?_

"Rose," I began frantically as I saw she was about to disapparate. "Rose, please, listen to me."

"I don't want you to make excuses for yourself," she repeated. "I want you to be happy."

"I'll only be happy with you," I said, stumbling forward, my mind finally registering that she was _really _trying to leave me again, all because she thought I really didn't love her. All because I didn't say it when I should have said it. I fell to my knees in front of her, which I had never done for anyone. If that didn't prove to her that I loved her, I didn't know what would. "Rose, you have to believe me."

"Scorpius-" she began, tears filling her eyes once more.

I grabbed her hand, willing to do anything to get her to believe me. "You have to believe me," I repeated, and when I saw that she really truly didn't believe me, I began to feel desperate. More desperate than I had ever felt.

She began to pull away. And as her hand left mine, a thousand images flashed throughout my mind. The night we shared detention together in our sixth year, all of the chalk dust flying throughout the air as we threw it at each other… The nights we spent in the library as she tutored me for River's class… The day I saved her from drowning in the lake near the school… The night she came for me when I had relived my father's death in a dream… All of the insignificant things and all of the massive milestones all thrown together, building my love for her. I wished I could show her all the things I was seeing, I wished I could wrap it up and give it to her, the evidence of my love for her.

Rose was preparing to disapparate, and even though I knew I could easily follow her, I was desperate to find someway to prove to her how much I loved her at that very moment. So desperate. I had never panicked so much in my life. I wasn't thinking… My mind was acting completely on it's own, I had no control of it whatsoever, so even though I meant the words coming out of my mouth, I didn't mean to say them.

"Marry me!" I shouted, my voice piercing the silence of the night. "Marry me and I'll prove to you that I love you!"

Rose gasped and covered her hand with her mouth, and what I had shouted seemed to make the world stop, the only thing that mattered was the two of us standing there, me on my knees in front of her, pledging my love for her, my devotion to her… In that moment, I realized that even though I wasn't ready to get married in the slightest, I would if that meant I could stay with her for the rest of my life. I would marry her tomorrow if I could go to bed and wake up to her beautiful face for the rest of my life. I wanted to be the father of her children. I wanted us to grow old together, to die of old age together. I wanted _her. _

"Scorpius," Rose whispered, shaking her head softly. My already-broken-in-half heart shattered into a thousand pieces, and any emotion I felt at that moment was squashed. I welcomed the numbness like an old friend. I would welcome anything the kept my emotions away for awhile. I dropped Rose's hand, and she let out a faint sob before disapparating, leaving me there alone, cold in the snow in front of the Potter's mansion.

The last coherent thought I had before I went down-right belligerent was, _She didn't say she loved me back._

…

I stumbled into the club in Diagon Alley, my numbness completely gone, replaced by pure rage. I was mad at myself for everything. I was mad at myself for allowing my mother to kill herself, I was mad at myself for not being there to back Albus up the night he had been thrown into a coma, I was mad at myself for not paying more attention to Dominique when she needed it, I was mad at myself for letting Rose get away from me again.

I wanted to hit someone. I _needed _to hit someone. My eyes raked the club, and I was filled with a grim pleasure when my eyes landed on Lysander Scamander, his brother, and Fate Brown sitting across the room. I suddenly hated Lysander. I wanted to punch him. He had dated Rose the whole time she and I were broken up, and the way his hand was clutched in Fate's hand, he had no fucking clue what he was missing.

I stormed across the crowded club, getting odd looks from people throughout the room. One of my old friends from Hogwarts, Jay Bones, grabbed my arm as I passed, but I shoved him off. I had to hit something. Someone. _Anyone. _And Lysander was the perfect person. I knew I would regret it later, but at that moment, I didn't care enough to stop myself.

When I stopped in front of Lysander's table, he looked up, his eyes widening. He didn't expect me. Obviously he didn't expect me. He hadn't seen me in months. I could vaguely hear a very familiar voice calling my name from across the club but people were beginning to crowd around Lysander and I, wondering what was about to happen.

Lysander stood up, no hatred in his eyes whatsoever. He stuck out his hand. "Hey, Scorpius," he said hesitantly. "Er… No hard feelings, alright?"

And I swung my fist and punched him in the mouth so hard, I was almost certain he'd lose a few teeth. The familiar voice from across the club was shouting my name again, it was getting louder, but was quickly drown out by Fate Brown's ugly shriek. "What the fuck, Scorpius?" she demanded, stepping forward, but Lysander pushed her back, his body tense.

"Listen," he said around a mouthful of blood. "Scorpius, I don't know what the problem is… If this is about Rose, then you should know I'm over her-"

I hit him again, and again, and again, and finally he had to punch me himself for self-defense. And then the two of us were rolling around on the ground, his brother trying to pull me off of him, Fate screaming for security. But nothing could make me stop hitting this bloke, and in the back of my mind, I was scared that I was going to kill him. The familiar voice was louder now, right in my ear. The voice was so familiar that I was tempted to turn around to see who it was, but Lysander had punched me hard in the jaw and I needed to hit him back.

"Dammit, Scorpius!" the familiar voice shouted. Whoever it was grabbed at my jacket, attempting to pull me back, but failed. "What the fuck happened to you?" the voice shouted, and finally, with the help of Lysander's brother, Lorcan, the mystery person was able to pull me off of an unconscious Lysander.

The person shoved me through the crowd, and I was too busy groaning through the now very prominent pain in my jaw to look back to see who it was. The person shoved me roughly out the backdoor of the club and threw me against the wall. My eyes were clamped shut as I expected to get hit in the face. "Open your eyes, you idiot!" the voice snapped angrily. "For the love of fuck, open your eyes!" And suddenly, I knew that voice. How could I have _not _known it? I should have turned back the moment I heard it in the club. My eyes flew open, and all I could do was fucking stare at the person in front of me.

Albus Potter.

**A/N: **

**I'm writing this A/N in an airport so if it sounds rushed, I'm sorry!**

**And there you go, your beloved Albus who you seem to love more than anyone else in the whole story even though there's really been no character development at all on his part aside from him turning from obnoxiously-arrogantly-rude-Scorpius's-enemy to obnoxiously-arrogantly-rude-Scorpius's-best-friend. Don't worry, though, I love him too. Actually, I don't think it's Albus that I love so much, it's probably the bromance he and Scorpius have that I love… I think bromances are freaking adorable, as long as their not weird.**

**I know what you're thinking: Scorpius is crazy. Yeah, well, he's in love.**

**So, sadly, there's only about three or four chapters left. BUT, depending on how long the epilogue is, I don't exactly know how much is left. I'm thinking about putting the epilogue in three parts. I know. I know. But I have three different scenarios that I want for the epilogue, so I figured I'd just write all of them. I'm going to try really hard to get all of it out within the next two weeks, but no promises. I'm going to VidCon next week, so I don't know how much time I'll have. Anyone else going to VidCon? Annnyone?**

**Anyway, I love you all dearly, I hope you like the back-to-back chapter action, and I can't wait to read the reviews!**

**Quotes, comments, questions? Let me know!**

**Written,**

**Anonymous;)**


	31. Chapter 31

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Thirty-One:**

**Scorpius Malfoy:**

Albus and I stared at each other for a long moment, and finally, something clicked in my brain and I flung myself at that bastard, nearly knocking him off his unusually weak feet. I didn't care how fucking gay the two of us probably looked, I didn't care how confused Albus probably was at that moment, I didn't care that he probably thought I was crazy, I didn't care that Alex was probably listening somewhere, somehow, pissed that Albus had woken up. All I cared about was that my best friend, my _brother, _was alive, and though tired and weak looking, he was unharmed.

"Fuck, Scorpius," Albus said, breathlessly, clapping me on the back confusedly. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

I pulled away from him and evaluated his appearance. He looked exactly the same, only tired and weak, as I had previously thought. Finally, once I was sure that he wasn't hurt and that those stupid healers had taken decent care of him at St. Mungos, I pulled out my wand and pointed at him, sad about what I was going to do, but knowing it was best be cautious. "Our sixth year, on our way back from winter holidays, you came into my compartment on the train. What was our conversation about?" I asked, and Albus answered instantly, as he always did when the two of us questioned each other's identity.

"I came into your compartment, and we agreed that the two of us weren't friends. We were only getting along for Rose, and if you two were to break it off, we'd be back to how we used to be the years before," he said hastily, and finally, I saw the urgency in his eyes. And then I remembered that fucking letter that had scared him so much. I opened my mouth to speak at the same time he did, but as I waited for him to continue, he thought that he'd better question me too. "When we were in sixth year, we went to Teddy's wedding. When you were looking for Rose's room, we rode in a lift together. Who was with you when you got into the lift?"

"Verney," I said quickly, then changed the subject. "Albus, I talked to Teddy about the letter you had read-"

He cut me off. "I know, I'll explain it in a moment, but you have to take off the ring, Scorpius," he said, and as he said that, my stomach rolled with nausea an a fever flared up so fast I thought I might pass out. I slouched against the wall, doubling over. "You're feeling sick," Albus said hurriedly. "If you take off the ring, it'll stop. He's controlling your health with it. He can hear me speaking _right now _through the ring. You have to take it off."

"How is that possible-" I began, groaning in misery from the elevating sense of illness.

"Just take the damned ring off and I'll explain everything! You have to take it off!"

"It adjusted to my finger," I told him, nearly puking, not registering how much of an idiot I was being for not taking it off. "It's the Malfoy ring, I promise."

"No," he said, losing patience, grabbing my wrist, and pulling the ring off himself. I instantly felt fine. The feeling of sickness had vanished instantly. I straightened back up, still not completely sure whether or not the ring was what was controlling me. Albus began speaking very quickly. "The ring has been controlling your health. When you feel sick, it's because of Alex. He's placed a spell on it that gives him direct access to you. He can hear what your saying, what people around you are saying."

"But… it adjusted to my finger," I said, not wanting to accept the fact that I was being used by my own family ring.

"It's not real," Albus said, as if it were obvious. "It's not the real Malfoy ring. It's a fake. It will adjust to my finger too. Anybody who puts it on."

"Prove it," I said, relieved that Alex hadn't put the spell on the real ring. But if it wasn't the real Malfoy ring, where was the real one?

Albus slipped it on his finger, giving me just enough time to see it adjust to him, and then pulled it off and chucked it down the alleyway. "Do you believe me now?" he asked, turning and beginning to walk down the alleyway, where we'd hit the main street of Diagon Alley. I followed quickly after him.

"Yes," I said. "So that's what the letter said?" I asked. "It told you about the ring?"

Albus nodded. "That, and where's he's at. I think he was trying to kill me," Albus said. "I think he meant for me to die knowing that I didn't have time to tell you what he was doing, how he was listening, and where he was at." Albus shook his head, grimacing. "And now he knows I'm awake and that we're coming after him… All I can do is hope that he doesn't do anything rash."

"You said you know where he is?" I demanded, my eyes widening. "Where? Why didn't you tell me right away?"

"I had to make sure the ring was off and that you were actually you," Albus said pointedly. "He's in Italy, by the way. I don't know exactly why he's in Italy." Albus shook his head. "It's odd, because it's such a random place. You'd think he'd want somewhere that meant something." By now we were halfway to the Leaky Cauldron. I didn't know where Albus was planning on going, but at that moment, I wouldn't give a fuck if he was going to run dressed as a flamingo down the streets of London. Just as long as he wasn't laying half-dead in a hospital bed.

The word "Italy" flew right over my head, all I cared is where exactly Alex was and what he was doing. "Where in Italy?"

"Florence," Albus said distractedly. "But right now that doesn't really matter. What matters right now is finding Rose and Dominique and strategizing a plan to get there and how to find him. Why aren't you with them?" he asked suddenly. "I'd think you'd be with them since it's… New Years Eve." His eyebrows pinched together. "I've been out for almost three months," he said quietly. "Three entire months of my life, gone…"

I cleared my throat. "Er… yeah. A lot has happened."

"Like what?" Albus demanded, his head snapping up. "Is my family alright? My dad, is he okay? Did Teddy survive the explosion-"

"They're fine. Your father is worried sick and Teddy feels almost too guilty to function right, but they're fine. You mum and brother and sister, too. Your cousins are fine." I thought for a moment. "Well… Except Dominique. She's not doing too good…"

"What happened? Is she sick again?" Albus got this stricken look on my face and his shoulders slumped when I nodded.

"We were at training, and she passed out. When we were at the hospital, they said they found cuts all up her arms and she hadn't eaten in days," I said, and Albus groaned. "They…" I hesitated. "They said it was probably triggered by the guilt of having an abortion last year."

Albus shook his head sadly, but didn't say anything indicating his shock over the situation.

Then it hit me. "Did… you know?" I asked, surprised. "Did you know that she had an abortion?"

Albus nodded, still seeming sad. "Of course I knew. I was the one who went with her when she had it." He saw my surprised expression and smirked halfheartedly. "Dominique didn't think I would judge her. She didn't want to go alone, and she knew Rose would talk her out of it. After she had it done, she begged me not to tell anyone. I wasn't going to anyway, but you know Dominique…" He shook his head, smiling. I was still in shock. Well, I supposed it made sense. Though Dominique and Albus didn't seem nearly as close as Rose and Albus, they were. Maybe even more than Rose and Albus. The two were just too much alike to get along like Rose and Albus did.

"You said a lot happened," Albus said. "What else?"

"My mum killed herself," I said bluntly, throwing up a mental guard before I could let the guilt consume me like it often did when I talked about my mother.

Albus's eyes widened, and he said, "Scorpius, mate… I'm sorry." But he didn't say anything else on the topic, which relieved me, because he and I both knew it wasn't the time to talk about it. As he said, we had to go find Rose and Dominique and figure out what to do next.

Just as we reached The Leaky Cauldron, I asked, "The healers just let you leave? You didn't have to sign anything or do any testing?"

"No," Albus said, getting several surprised looks from people inside The Leaky Cauldron. Obviously, everyone knew the famous Harry Potter's son was thrown into a coma, so it was quite a surprise for them to see him awake. "I just got up and left," he said.

I gaped at him. "You're going to get into so much trouble," I said, rolling my eyes.

"No, I won't," Albus said, looking at me for a long moment, a flash of amusement sparking in his eyes. Finally, he raised an eyebrow and said, "I'm Albus Potter."

…

"Remind me why you're so adamant about us finding Dominique before we find Rose?" Albus asked as we walked down the streets of Godric's Hallow. Albus insisted that we not apparate to his front yard incase his dad decided to look out the window and see who it was. He said he didn't want to cause a scene before everything with Alex was settled. Albus seemed certain we'd find Alex sometime within the next twenty-four hours. It terrified me and relieved me all at the same time. If we were _that _close to finding him, we were _that _close to being done with him for good.

"Rose and I… got into a bit of an argument," I said sheepishly, hoping he wouldn't ask why. But since he was Albus, of course he asked why.

"What happened?" he asked, but he seemed to have this far off look as he looked around the place where he grew up. I didn't really think about it, but Albus had just three months of his life completely wasted. It didn't seem like a long time, but a lot could happen in three months. I didn't need to have someone explain that to _me. _

"Well…" I began, feeling that I owed it to him to tell him everything that happened over his time away. "When my mum died, I was sort of… sick, for lack of a better word. I still am, I suppose," I said distractedly, finally realizing that Albus's presence had put a stop to it all. Maybe it was because I knew I wasn't losing another one of the people closest to me. Maybe it was because he was like a sibling to me, and if I had lost him, it'd be like losing a brother. "I haven't been able to speak. I haven't been able to sleep. Needless to say… It's been bad. But… um… you were sort of right about the whole Rose and Alex situation."

Albus's head snapped up. "You mean…?" he asked, horrified. "He… he did _that _to her?"

I nodded. "She only really admitted it to me after I forced her to. She wondered why I wouldn't talk to her about what happened with my mother, and it was because she wouldn't talk to me about what happened with Alex. It was sort of a trust thing," I finished lamely.

"So, how did it end?" Albus asked. "The argument?"

I flushed. "I probably shouldn't say…" I muttered.

He raised an eyebrow, still expecting me to go on.

"I asked her to marry me," I said, my voice barely audible. But Albus still heard it, and he fucking gaped at me, his eyes wide, his crazy hair sticking up everywhere, making he look like a madman.

"You _what?_" he demanded, shocked. "For fuck's sake, I'm gone for three months and everything goes to shit…" He shook his head, mumbling something about how horrible everyone would get on with out him. I agreed, but I didn't say anything, because he began speaking in a normal tone once more. "Well, what did she say?"

"Er… I'm not exactly sure. But the shaking of her head pretty much indicated _no. _Then she disapparated. So, I found my way to the club and almost killed Lysander, and then you found me… How did you know to go to club anyway?"

"I figured everyone would be there, considering my parents probably didn't throw the annual party this year," he said, and I instantly felt horrible. I didn't think about it that way. With Albus being gone, it wasn't exactly a party atmosphere, yet the party still went on.

"Well…" I said, swallowing. "There was the party. But I didn't see your parents anywhere, so I'm guessing someone else threw it for them. I don't even know if they were there," I said honestly, hoping to reassure him.

Albus shook his head sadly. I didn't know what to say, and luckily, I didn't have to say anything, because we were now approaching the steps of the Potter mansion. Luckily, the entrance protruded from the house, so there was a wall for Albus hide behind as I knocked on the door. It didn't look like Dominique was still at the party, considering midnight had passed and it seemed there wasn't anybody left in the mansion. But I didn't say anything to Albus, because something told me he just wanted to hear his parents voices before he did anything else.

He stepped behind the wall, no longer in sight, as I knocked on the door of the Potter mansion. It didn't take long for the door to swing open. Harry stood in the entrance, looking tired. His eyes widened when he saw me. "Scorpius?"

"Sorry it's so late, Mr. Potter," I said awkwardly.

"No, it's fine," he said as Ginny joined him in the doorway. "Would you like to come in?

"No, I just wanted to come and apologize for Rose and I leaving the party early. We weren't really in the partying mood," I said, and Ginny nodded understandingly.

"We understand," she said kindly. "I was holed up in the bedroom the whole time and Harry stayed late at work just to avoid it. Ron took over, which is why I think everyone left early…" She smiled half-heartedly, rolling her eyes. "It just wasn't the same this year. The New Years party was always Albus's favorite…"

"_Is_, Ginny," Harry reminded his wife. "_Is _his favorite."

"Oh, dear…" Ginny said, her voice suddenly thick with tears. "I'm sorry… It's just so hard… Excuse me, Scorpius… Thanks for coming by… You're welcome anytime, you know that…" She turned and hurried back inside the house.

"Sorry, Scorpius," Harry said. "She's having a hard time, like most of us are. Anyway, it's quite all right that you and Rose didn't stay for the party. We understand." He smiled kindly, looking like Albus did whenever the true Potter showed through is hard exterior.

"Right," I said, "thanks. I was also wondering if Dominique was still here?"

"No," Harry said, shaking his head, "she left right when I got here. I reckon she has went home."

"Thanks, Mr. Potter, I appriciate it-"

"Harry!" Ginny suddenly shrieked from inside the house, and before Harry or I could react, she appeared in the doorway once more. "A head healer from St. Mungos just sent a patronus!" she said frantically. "Albus is missing!"

I tried to look as surprised as I could.

"He's missing?" Harry demanded. "Where could he have gone?"

"I don't know!" Ginny said, a spark of hope flashing in her eyes. "The healer said it was like he just got up and walked out! But they didn't see him leave and they have absolutely no clue where he could have gone. You'd think he'd come straight home…" she said softly.

Harry's eyes hardened. "Yes, you would think so…" he muttered. "Ginny, we're going to have to go to St. Mungos to talk to the healers. Please, go get whatever you want to bring…" Once Ginny had scurried off back inside, he turned to me, and said, "Have you seen him?"

"No," I said shaking my head, my eyes wide with false surprise. "I haven't seen him."

Harry raised an eyebrow, seeing straight through me, but he nodded. "Right, well, send us a patronus if you do. I'll send you one if we see or hear from him. It's a stag, if you don't know," he said. And I did know, because it was also Albus's. Harry lowered his voice. "And Scorpius, if you run into any… _trouble _tonight, don't hesitate to ask for help."

Ginny was back at the door by now, her bag slung over her shoulder. "We'll let you know if we find anything out, Scorpius," she said. A few more words were exchanged between us, and finally, they disapparated, leaving me alone in front of the Potter mansion, surprised at how easily Harry knew something big was about to happen.

I sighed, and stuck my head around the wall to tell Albus it was safe to come out. But I stopped when I saw him. He had slid down the wall and his hands covered his face. I respectfully turned back to wait until he was ready to leave. I understood that it was probably hard being at home, hearing his parents' voices, and not being able to do anything. He probably could have said something, but he and I both knew that as soon as Ginny laid eyes on him she wouldn't let him leave for awhile. And we had business to take care of.

Alex knew what we knew, and his was pissed.

**A/N:**

**Catch anything Scorpius forgot to mention to Albus?**

**Comments, quotes, questions, predictions… Let me know! **

**Written,**

**Anonymous;)**


	32. Chapter 32

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Thirty-Two:**

**Scorpius Malfoy:**

I knocked on the door where Dominique's parents lived, praying that Dominique would be there. Albus was once again hiding, just incase his aunt or uncle opened the door. It was ideal that none of the adults knew what was going on, as stupid as that sounded. If we got them involved, they wouldn't let us do anything. They'd probably spend days planning what they were going to do and make us stay home. This was something that Albus, Rose, Dominique, and I had to finish ourselves. And oddly, Harry seemed to understand that from his comment about not hesitating to ask for help. He implied that the adults were there, and if we needed them, we could call for them.

Eventually, the door swung open and luckily, Dominique stood in the doorway. She looked surprised. "Scorpius?" she asked. "What are you doing here?" Dominique looked better from the last time I had actually _seen _her. I had seen her earlier that night, but I was too busy trying to get to Rose to actually look at her. She was back to a normal weight, not too skinny, not too big, but perfect for Dominique. She was wearing a quarter sleeve shirt for the first time in a long time, indicating that she had stopped cutting.

"Hey," I said awkwardly. "Sorry if I woke you. Your parents aren't awake, are they?"

"No," Dominique said, slowly reaching behind her. "They're not. Are you here for a reason?"

"Yeah, kind of-"

She whipped her wand out and slammed me against the wall beside the door, then held her wand to my neck. "When I was sick during training a couple months ago, and Rose left to get help, what spell did you try to use to help me breath again?" Dominique demanded.

Dammit. What was it that I used? I hardly remembered, I was just so desperate to get her to breathe again… "Er… a healing spell…" I thought harder. "_Anapneo_, wasn't it?"

She released me. "Sorry, Scorpius," she said, lowering her wand. "I just had to be sure, since you've never shown up this late before. Is there a reason you're at my house this late?"

"Yeah, but give me a moment," I said, deciding I'd probably better question her as well. "The night Albus was put in the coma, you, me, Rose, and Teddy stood outside of St. Mungos. What started the argument you and I had?"

"I called Rose stupid," she said promptly. "So, what's going on? Is Rose okay? I mean, I did see her running out of my uncle's house without saying anything to me so-" Dominique stopped dead, her eyes landing on something behind me. I turned to see that Albus had revealed himself from behind a tree. Dominique shrieked and flung herself at her cousin. "Albus!" she screamed, her voice muffled since he was hugging her tightly. "You're… You're up! When do you get out? Why didn't anybody tell us-"

"Nobody knew I was gone," Albus said as I walked down the three steps that led to Dominique's front door. "But now they do, so I need to stay out of sight." He sighed as Dominique pulled away. "I heard what happened," he said meaningfully. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Dominique said, frowning. "I'm fine now. It was pretty bad there for awhile, but I'm okay now. I haven't talked to River since the night everyone found out." I hadn't either. I had heard that he quit his job as a trainer and went back to just being a normal auror. "But… he wasn't too happy. I don't think we'll end up together after all," she said sadly.

"It's okay," Albus said, planting a kiss on his cousin's forehead in a brotherly fashion before releasing her. "If he doesn't understand, then that's his problem." Albus and I both knew that that wasn't the case. What Dominique did _was _pretty low, but she did it out of panic. I figured River would have talked to her by now, but it as understandable that he was still angry.

"Where's Rose?" Dominique suddenly asked.

"Scorpius and Rose got into a fight," Albus explained Just before I could cut him off, he said, "And out of sheer desperation, Scorpius asked the girl to marry him." Albus shook his head sadly as I stared at him incredulously. "She said no. Poor bloke." Yeah, my best friend was definitely back.

Dominique gasped. "She said _no?_"

"You think she would have said _yes?_" I demanded, shaking my head. "Listen. We don't have time for this. Albus knows where Alex is and Alex knows we're looking for him. We have to go."

Dominique opened her mouth to speak once more, but Albus told her to shut up, and for once, she smiled at his usual command to her. "I've missed you so much," she said, and Albus smiled, before messing up her hair and grabbing her hand, grabbing my wrist, and apparating.

…

"_Alohomora,_" Albus muttered, pointing his wand at the doorknob to Rose's and Dominique's flat. Dominique watched him in incredulous silence as he walked into her flat as if he owned the place. She and I exchanged glance that said, _Yeah. He's back. _

"Rosie!" Albus drawled out loudly. As Dominique and I followed him in, I began to panic. What if Alex had taken her again? It was instantly squashed, because I we all heard a very prominent shriek and then Rose was standing in the entrance of the hallway, staring, shocked, at Albus. She had been crying, it was obvious, but I restrained myself from going over to her, mainly because the way she was avoiding my gaze told me that she didn't even want to see me. My stomach seemed to fall.

"Albus- Oh my- What the-" Then she flung herself at her cousin and he hugged her tightly before pulling away and saying, "We were six. We snuck into James's bedroom. What did we steal and bring back without anybody noticing?"

"His broomstick," she said quickly before hugging her cousin once more.

Albus smiled and returned her hug, before turning to face Dominique and I, his arm still slung across Rose's shoulder. "I have a lot to tell you, and we don't have much time. Scorpius already knows, but if the two of you want to come, you have to know what's going on." Dominique and Rose nodded, and Albus began to explain everything. The ring, Alex's location, his control over my wellbeing. Dominique gasped when she heard about the ring, stating the question she asked me didn't count anymore, and that I could be Alex. Albus proceeded to tell her that he asked me a question that required an answer from before I wore the ring, and luckily Dominique shut up. By the end of the long explanation, Rose and Dominique were gapping at him.

"So…" Rose began, still not making eye contact with me. "We have to go after him tonight?"

"Yes," Albus said instantly. "We don't have a choice. He knows I'm awake and he knows that ywe all know everything now. So we have to-"

Suddenly, someone began slamming on the door. All four of our heads snapped up and we stared at it warily. It sounded as if someone was slamming their entire body against the door. It was repeatedly, too. I knew it wasn't Alex, because if it was, he would be perfectly capable of blasting the door open. The person on the other side of the door was panicking, they weren't thinking enough just to blow the door up… I stepped forward and opened it, and in tumbled Hunter Belvidere.

"Who the hell are you-" Albus began, confused, his eyebrows knitting together as he lowered his wand. Obviously, the kid wasn't a threat.

Hunter ignored him and stared at me, pure desperation in his eyes. "He's taken her! Please, you have to do something-"

It felt like the world had stopped. I glanced at Rose momentarily, who looked like she was going to be sick. "He took who?" I asked, praying that the kid would calm down enough to tell us what the hell had happened. He looked crazy. He had sweat pouring down his face despite the cold outside, and his damp hair stuck to his forehead. His hands were shaking, and I was momentarily glad to see him expressing real human emotions instead of just straight arrogance.

"Lily!" he said. "He's taken Lily! He just came out of nowhere and he took her. I tried to get her, but he was holding a knife to her throat, so obviously I wasn't going to move any closer or he would have killed her, and then he disapparated. A few days ago she said you were staying here and you're the only person I could think to come to-"

"Okay," Albus cut in, his voice scarily calm. "Firstly, how did you know where Scorpius staying?"

"I just told you-"

"No, how did you find out where our location was? How did you find the flat?"

"I asked around until I found someone who knew her," he said, gesturing over to Rose.

"Who was it?" Albus demanded.

"Lysander Scamander, I think his name was," Hunter said quickly. "He looked like he had just got beaten up pretty bad and he was on his way home… I stopped him and he told me what building she was staying in and I just spent fifteen fucking minutes knocking on all of these doors, but then I saw a through the window all of you standing in here so obviously this was-"

"Right," Albus said. "Your last name?"

"Belvidere," Hunter said quickly. I was probably the only one who noticed Albus's shoulders stiffen slightly.

"Your sister's name?" Albus wondered, raising an eyebrow.

"Christabel," Hunter said, seeming to be willing to give Albus anything he wanted as long as he helped get Lily back. But then, my examination of Hunter's feelings were cut short. How did Albus know that Hunter had a sister? The only way for him to know would be… My eyes widened.

"Albus-" Rose and I began at the same time, but Albus shushed us.

"Where is she?" Albus demanded, and Hunter looked confused. "_Where is she?_" Albus said, more loudly this time.

"I don't know-"

"_Dammit!_" Albus shouted, shoving Hunter against the wall, his eyes filled with a horrible desperation, a horrible longing… Something that I knew so well. I could have thought about it more, but I had to make sure Albus didn't punch the poor kid. I stepped forward and yanked him away from Hunter, and Albus glared daggers at me.

"What the hell is you problem?" I demanded. "Your sister was taken by a fucking _rapist _and you're concerned with the whereabouts of someone you don't even know? Or do you know her? What's going on between you and Christabel Belvidere?" I questioned. "You do know that Rose, Dominique, and I had suspicions about her, didn't I tell you?" Then I felt like a huge idiot because I _hadn't. _"Holy fuck, Albus, I'm sorry, I completely forgot-"

"You didn't tell him?" Rose demanded, grabbing my shoulder and spinning me around to face her. "Are you _stupid?_ That was one of our biggest suspicions!"

"Don't call me stupid, Weasley," I snapped, tearing myself out of her grasp, instantly feeling guilty, because when I turned away from her once more I saw betrayal flash in her eyes, but my guilt was instantly squashed. She hadn't said she loved me, after all. And if our relationship was going to go any farther, then she needed to love me. If she didn't, I was just another Lysander Scamander.

"Wait," Albus said slowly. "You've had suspicions of Christabel… Suspicions about what?"

"Well…" I began. "Rose and Dominique and I saw Tempest Turpin _and _Christabel Belvidere leaving St. Mungos the morning after you were admitted. They were both crying and, well…" I figured her could gather the rest from there.

Albus groaned. "I _knew _it… I just fucking knew that that was a mistake…"

"What was a mistake?" I asked.

"I need to talk to you," Albus said quickly, grabbing my sleeve and pulling me down the hallway and into the guest bathroom. I watched him as he paced the small space, his eyebrows knit together. "You're going to think I'm terrible," he warned. "But… Oh Merlin, I screwed up so bad…"

"What the hell are you talking about? May I remind you that _Lily _is being held captive by a crazy rapist murderer at the moment-" "I slept with both of them," he blurted out. My eyes widened, but I was silent, urging him to continue. "I didn't tell you because I knew that somehow Alex would find out, and now that he has no access to you, it's not as bad telling you… But I slept with Tempest just because… I don't even know. Because I'm an ass. But then I ran into Christabel a few days later and she and I began talking, and I… I'm in love with her, Scorpius, and I didn't tell you because I couldn't make her a target."

Huh. Albus. In love. Weird. "Okay, so you're saying that neither of them are threats?"

"No," he said quickly. "That's not what I'm saying and now that her brother doesn't know where she is I'm panicking… What if she is bad? What if I fell in love with someone who has been working for _him _the entire time?"

"Well… There's only one way to find out, isn't there?" I asked.

Albus nodded. "You're right. We have to go now. _Right now._"

Five minutes later, we were all standing in the empty streets of Florence, Italy. We had told Hunter to stay in London, but he had grabbed onto my jacket just as we were apparating, and now I was stuck with a possible enemy, but maybe not. So if something happened to the kid and he turned out to be innocent I was going to be fucked.

We walked down the empty streets for awhile, not saying anything, until Rose gasped and Albus swore.

There, hanging from a post on a wall of one of the old buildings, was the shirt Lily had been wearing to the party.

**A/N:**

**Okay, A/N will have several things included in it today.**

**Give me a moment to fan girl over my VidCon experience: HOLY GOD CHARLIE MCDONNELL REMOVED HIS PANTS IN FRONT OF AN ENTIRE 3000 PEOPLE AND I. WAS. ONE. OF. THOSE. THREE. THOUSAND.**

**Now, as you can tell, the story will come to a close probably in the next two chapters. As much as I love this story and how proud I am of myself for being able to keep it going, I'm getting ridiculously tired of it and I'm excited to start something new after this. My next story will be a Scorpius/Rose and Hermione/Draco fic. I can tell you right now that Scorpius and Rose's situation in that story will not be as angsty. They'll be just carefree teenagers, forbidden by quite obviously, their parents old love for each other. Most of the angst will come from Draco and Hermione. It will probably be a novella, 20 to 25 chapters. As much as I love having a long, on going story, I'm ready for something I'll be able to have done by Christmas. **

**My reasoning behind wanting to have something easy with a bit of "carefree" energy, along with my usual angst is because I've been thinking about writing stuff made up completely by yours truly. Like, obviously, I made the story line to this story up, but the background, the characters, everything belongs to JKR. I have a Fictionpress, and I've been thinking of starting up a story that's been in my head for awhile. I'm pretty sure it won't be fantasy (I know, I know… sorry.) but plenty of angst. I just want to know if some of you would read it. Because I want to start it knowing that people will read it, and I won't have to start from scratch. Let me know, because I would love you forever if you just thought about it. (: So pleaaase let me know. **

**Okay, thanks for reading. **

**Written,**

**Anonymous;)**

***Sorry if the editing is bad. I hastily read through it. **


	33. Chapter 33

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Thirty-Three:**

**Rose Weasley:**

We all stared in horror at Lily's black, sequined party shirt hanging on the post. It's like my whole world had been swallowed up by a raging monster. Lily and I were never close and sometimes we didn't see eye-to-eye. But this was _Lily. _Sweet, innocent Lily. I glanced at Scorpius, who looked like he might pass out from terror. I then looked at Hunter, who was looking from Albus, to me, to Dominique, to Scorpius, and then back at the shirt. His eyes showed nothing but utter horror as he stared at my little cousin's shirt.

"No," I said softly. "Not Lily. We have to find her." I turned to Albus, who seemed to look like he was calculating something. Of course I knew Albus was worried for his sister, but he was the one to keep his composure in these kind of situations. His eyebrows were knit together and he was staring at that ground very hard, his jaw set. Abruptly, he started pacing.

"Nobody talk," he said harshly, despite the fact that none of us were talking at that moment. "He has Lily… Okay, we've established that. Alex likes to play games, we know that too. He probably has some puzzle he wants us to solve." Suddenly, his head snapped up. "Belvidere," he snapped at Hunter. "You were with my sister the whole night. What else was she wearing?"

Hunter, who looked like he was going to be sick, began to speak. "Jeans. She was wearing jeans. And these shoes that looked like they were ballerina slippers." He glanced nervously from Scorpius to Albus. I could tell just by looking at Scorpius that he still didn't trust Hunter in the slightest, but I could also tell that he was praying that Hunter wasn't a bad guy.

"Right," Albus said, nodding. "What else?"

"I-" Hunter began. "What do you mean? That's all she was wearing!"

"Under her clothes, dipshit," Dominique snapped, glaring at him. "You're her boyfriend aren't you?"

"I don't know!" Hunter said, startled. "I haven't seen her like that!"

Scorpius raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that, Belvidere?"

"She and I only just met a few months ago! She's not ready and neither am I… What the hell?" he suddenly asked. "Why do you all want to know what was under her-" He stopped dead. "You think he's… taken it off? You think we'll find her underwear like we found the shirt?"

"That's exactly what's going to happen," I said, my eyes landing on something in the distance. A black bra hung from another post, about ten meters away. Dominique gasped quietly as Scorpius swore colorfully. Albus's head snapped up and his face paled.

"It's a trail," he said matter-of-factly. "He's leading us to them… with her clothes."

Then the five of us were running in the direction of the bra. I was surprised I _could _run. My legs felt like jelly. I couldn't believe Alex was doing this. Well, I could believe it, I just didn't want to. Lily… Poor, sweet Lily. I had never been so scared for anybody in my entire life. I would have easily thrown myself between her and Alex if that meant she could kept her innocence until she was ready.

When we reached the overly lacey garment, Dominique yanked it off the post. "Yep, it's her size."

"How do you know that it's hers? Girls have the same bra size all the time," Scorpius began. He coughed, glancing at me from the corner of his eye. "Not that I would know," he added hastily. I rolled my eyes at him, but didn't say anything.

"It used to be mine," Dominique said. "I gave it to her this year, hoping it'd be enough to get herself a boyfriend." She tossed it to Hunter and he caught it clumsily and held it awkwardly at arms length in his hands, unsure of what to do with it.

"We have to keep moving," Scorpius and I said at the same time, the same desperate tones in our voice. He and I exchanged a brief glance before quickly looking away from each other. I flushed, my heart seeming to stammer. He had asked me to marry him… sort of. He and I both knew that neither of us were ready but for him to ask me to prove that he loved me made me… I didn't know what I felt. At first it made me feel horribly sick with nerves, but then it make me feel all soft and mushy and made my knees weak. Of course I would spend the rest of my life with Scorpius, but… I shook my head. This was not the time to get caught up in my thoughts about Scorpius. We had to find my cousin.

The five of us set off down the street, Scorpius and Albus walking in front of the rest of us. It was creepy. The town was completely deserted. I supposed it shouldn't be surprising, considering it was the really early hours of the morning. I watched Hunter as he walked, still holding the bra awkwardly in his hands. I would have found it funny if we weren't in the current circumstances.

Dominique fell into step beside me. "He asked you to marry him?" she asked quietly, her shoulder bumping against mine.

I nodded, not bothering to ask her how she knew. Obviously, Scorpius told Albus and Albus told Dominique. "We got into a fight and I was about to leave… and then he asked me." I avoided her gaze, watching my feet as they hit the dusty ground over and over again.

"You said no?"

"No," I said, finally looking at her, surprised. "I never said no. I just don't think he was being serious."

Dominique stared at me, incredulous. "How can you say that?" she demanded. "Scorpius wouldn't just ask you to ask you! He loves you, Rose!" Her blue eyes were wide, filled with fury. "You're wasting it, Rose," she said angrily. "He loves you more than you know and you're acting like what the two of you have is only puppy love! You don't know what you're losing," she said quietly.

"Why do you care?" I demanded. "Are _you _in love with him?"

"Hell _no,_" Dominique said, disgusted. "I care because I don't want you to throw it out the window for something stupid. I don't want you to get hurt," she added at the end, her voice cracking.

"Dom-"

"Let me finish!" she snapped. "I _lost _River. And you know what?" she asked, and continued before I could reply. "He's not coming back to me. But at least there's a reason he's not coming back to me. At least I _know _why. But if you do this to Scorpius, Rose, and just leave him hanging there, wondering what the hell happened between the two of you, it makes you cruel _and _stupid. If you don't love him, give him a reason why. That's the least you could do for him, Rose, especially after everything he's done for you."

A lump formed in my throat. "I do love him though," I said thickly. "I just… I don't even know."

Dominique sighed. "I'd be mad at you, but I can't. This is so you, Rose. I don't blame you for it. Until our sixth year, you were always in your own world. Albus and I used to call it Planet Rose," she said, shaking her head, smiling at some distant memory.

"That's original," I grumbled sarcastically.

"Let me finish," she said for the second time that night, this time her voice much softer. "You were always closed away in it. You could stop paying attention during the most crucial times, sometimes to the point where I wanted to rip your hair out. But then… Scorpius came along. You were snapped out of it so fast I was surprised you didn't have culture shock. At first, I hated him for being the one who took you out of your world. You were my best friend, after all. Albus and I were the only people who could talk to you, so when someone we considered the enemy broke through the barrier to world completely, I was pissed. But then I saw the way you looked at him. I saw the way he looked at you. Then I wasn't mad anymore. But I was still horribly jealous. I thought that now that you had Scorpius, you wouldn't have time for me. But then the night that I really need you, at Teddy and Victoire's wedding reception, you were there. And I knew that it was okay, that you were still my best friend."

As touched as I was, I was still confused. Why was she telling me this? "What is making you tell me this?" I asked quietly.

"I… don't really know," she said. "I feel like I owe it to you. I feel like you needed to know why I was so mad that you and Scorpius were together back in sixth year. Also, partly because I'm trying to get you to _see. _Nobody has ever gotten you like Scorpius. Not even me. Not Albus. Only Scorpius. So… I guess I'm giving you my blessing, to…" She grinned. "I mean, obviously, if you want to marry him."

"But… Shouldn't you be giving Scorpius your blessing?" I regretted it as soon as the words left my mouth, because I knew instantly what she was going to do.

"Right," she said, nodding, and then cupped her hands over her mouth. "Scorpius!" she called. He and Albus were several meters ahead of us now. He turned around, an eyebrow quirked. My cheeks were on fire. "I give you my blessing!" I almost laughed when I saw his eyes widened and he spun back around on his heel, his back as straight as a board. I then heard Albus proceed to also give Scorpius his blessing, while slapping him on the shoulder.

But the lightheartedness wore off almost instantly, for Albus came across another article of clothing hanging from a post. He stopped and removed Lily's designer jeans from the hook, held them up, and groaned. Something yellowish flashed from the front pocket. I ripped the jeans from Albus's hands and yanked out the piece of parchment. I unfolded it so fast I was surprised it didn't tear. The five of us leaned into read it. It was addressed to Scorpius.

_Scorpius,_

_You have until five o'clock this morning to get her. If you're not here by then, I'll kill her. And maybe a few other things that would be a little too explicit to explain through a letter. Lily's trail of clothes will lead you to a portkey. Take it, and you'll be sent to the entrance of my hideout. I can't wait to see you._

_-Alex _

_PS _

_You didn't forget about your __Italian __tagalong, did you? _

Scorpius's head suddenly snapped up, his eyes landing on Hunter. "You're Italian," he said, pulling his wand out and pointing it at the boy. "You're _fucking _Italian. How did I not realize it sooner?"

"What are you talking about?" Hunter asked, his eyes widening.

"_Don't play stupid!_" Scorpius shouted, shoving Hunter against a wall of a building. "We're in Italy! Of course, you probably have something against purebloods too, so you've given him a relatives house to do his dirty work in!"

"My entire family is dead!" Hunter said, fumbling around in his pockets for his wand, his eyes never leaving this tip of Scorpius's.

"I don't believe you!" Scorpius yelled. "I gave you the benefit of the doubt, but now but now I feel stupid. I should have known the moment Albus told me Alex was in Italy-"

"Scorpius, wait," Albus said suddenly, stepping forward and placing a hand on his best friend's arm. "Alex could be setting him up. We just have to wait and see."

Scorpius stared at Albus for a long time, and finally nodded. Scorpius lowered his wand, but glared at Hunter. He opened his mouth to say something, but Albus beat him to it. "If you're working for Alex," he said, "you will _not _come out of tonight living. Do you hear me? Lily trusted you, and if anybody else breaks her trust the way Alex did, I would personally make sure that person was dead, do you hear me?" Albus was bluffing. He would never kill the kid. Albus probably wouldn't even kill Alex. It wasn't in his nature.

"You don't have to worry about it," Hunter said. "Because I'm not working for Alex."

Albus ignored him and began discussing with Scorpius whether or not we should take Hunter back to London and leave him with Teddy until we figured out if he was good or bad. But it was quickly forgotten when we realized that to get the complete truth, Hunter would have to be with us, because if Hunter was good, Alex would continue to claim he was bad, and then we would never know.

We continued down the road until we reached the end, where we found Lily's underwear hanging on a post. Nobody really knew what to say, because it was obvious that it would be the last article of clothing she had on. We had her shirt, her jeans, and her bra. And now her black panties hung on the post in front of us. Hunter looked completely horrified, and something told me that he wasn't acting. Everything in his eyes were true, but I knew that Scorpius and Albus wouldn't believe it until they had real evidence, so I kept my mouth shut.

Beneath the panties was one of Lily's sneakers, and a small piece of parchment perched on top of it that read, "Portkey."

"Well," Albus said quietly, his voice scary calm as he glared from the underwear to the portkey. "There's another thing we have against him."

"What's that?" Scorpius inquired,

"He's made an unauthorized portkey."

"The more we have against him the better, right?" Scorpius asked, glancing from Albus, to me, to Dominique, and then to Hunter. "Ready? One, two, three…" The five of us stuck our hand on the portkey, and almost instantly I was hit by the sensation that I was being pulled very roughly in the direction of something.

We landed in a forest, beside a large whole in the ground. Once we were all standing in the dark, dense woods, an eerie silence fell over us as we stared into the whole. It looked endless. We could hear a sloshing of something far below the surface. "Expect to land in water," Albus said. "I'll go first-"

"No," Scorpius said. "I'll go first. You and I both know that if you were to get thrown into a coma again because of me, your parents would rip my head off. I'll go. Then send Rose, then Dominique, Hunter, and then you."

Albus looked as if he were about to argue, but shut his mouth. Scorpius smirked mirthlessly, his eyes locking with mine for the first time since we were on the street. "Down the rabbit hole," he said, swung his legs over the side of the hole, and pushed off. He was swallowed by darkness.

**A/N:**

**Creepy Alex is creepy.**

**I'm so bored of this guys. Sadly. I can't wait to be done. I WILL finish, because I spent all last year writing Her Eyes and My Devotion, and it would be stupid for me not to. Didn't edit this, just because I kind of stopped caring. I know. I'm sorry. I really just want to be done. **

**Got mixed reviews on the whole "Dramione for my next fic" sort of thing. Sorry. I ship Dramione like a crazy mother fucker. **

**Check out my new story I have up on my fictionpress. Link to that is on my profile. Don't know where it'll go, but you should read it anyway.**

**I love you all for reviewing. **

**Written,**

**Anonymous**


	34. Chapter 34

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Thirty-Four:**

**Scorpius Malfoy:**

The water was freezing. As soon as I went under, my body felt like it was being stabbed by a thousand knives. I was instantly stiff, and I had trouble swimming back up to the surface, but I finally made it. I gasped as I came up, desperate for air. I could hear Albus shouting down the hole at me. "Scorpius? Was it water? I'm so fucking sorry if it's not water!"

Rose was hysteric. "Why isn't he replying? Dammit, Albus! What if it was some sort of acid?"

Albus was silent for a moment, before calling down to me once more, "Like I said, mate, sorry if it wasn't water-"

"I'm fine!" I called up, my body beginning to shake from the coldness of the water. I looked around the strange cave-like thing I had landed in. It was illuminated with torches stuck in the ground. The water I was in was clear blue. It was almost sort of… pretty, oddly enough. "Send Rose down!"

I heard a scrambling from up above, and then Albus asking, "You can swim right?"

"Obviously, Albus," Rose snapped. "Plus, Scorpius isn't going to let me _drown._"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Albus's deafeningly loud voice echoed down the hole, much deeper than Rose's. "I mean, you did say no to marrying him." My face flushed, and I made a mental note to kick Albus once the was all over.

"Oh, would you two shut up?" Dominique said, annoyed. "Go or I'll push you in."

"We already know what happened the last time you pushed Rose into a body of water, Dom," Albus said with snark. I rolled my eyes, impatient, as Dominique spluttered a series of words to Albus. It was a relief to hear the three of them bantering again. It had been so quiet when it was only Rose and I. But I had to break up their argument or we'd never get to Lily on time.

"Just jump, for Merlin's sake!" I yelled up to them.

No less than two seconds later, Rose's body came flying from the surface, and she crashed into the water, about a meter from me. Instinctively, I grabbed her arm and pulled her back up. She coughed water out of her mouth and instantly began shivering. "It's freezing," she said, her teeth already beginning to chatter. I let go of her, but she struggled. Wrapping my arm around her waist, I pulled her body to mine. "I can _swim,_" she said snappily. "I just wasn't expecting it to be so cold."

"Right, well, it is _January. _What were you expecting? Bath water?" I didn't bother to let go of her, and she didn't bother to tell me to let go of her. I held her tightly against my body, planning to use the excuse of trying to keep her from freezing to death if she asked me why I was holding her so tight. The truth was that I was scared that this would be the last time I ever got to hold her. If we were broken up like it seemed we were, I doubted we'd ever get back together.

I took that moment to look at her. _Really _look at her. If this was the last time I'd get to see her this close and personal, I wasn't going to waste my time, no matter what the circumstances were. Her makeup from the New Years part was smudged around her eyes from her - what I assumed was - previous crying before Albus, Dominique, and I showed up at the flat. Her face was still pale from the shock of hitting such cold water. She was so beautiful. Her hair stuck to her forehead with water and without thinking, I brushed it back. Rose's eyes locked with mine, and her body seemed to relax a little. She opened her mouth to say something, but I said, "We'll talk about it later, okay? Let's just focus on getting through tonight."

Rose nodded and tightened her grip on my shirt. Despite the face that we all could die that night, that Alex could be doing only Merlin knows what to Lily at that moment, relief flooded through me. For that moment in time, Rose and I were okay.

"Okay!" Dominique's voice shouted down the hole. "I'm jumping!"

No less than two seconds later, Dominique's body plunged into the icy water. I yanked her up to the surface, keeping a firm grip on her as she pushed her hair out of her face and looked around. "Damn," she said. "It's actually kind of _pretty _in here. Who knew Alex to be so… hospitable," she added bitterly.

I heard Albus and Hunter scuffling around above, and Hunter say, "_Hey!_" before he splashed down in the water in front of us. I trusted the kid to get himself to the surface, so I didn't bother helping him. Soon enough, he was kicking his way back up, and when his head surfaced, he glared at me. "Your friend _pushed _me down the fucking tunnel thing," he said angrily, and I shrugged, because let's face it, it's not surprising that Albus pushed the kid down the hole. Probably partly because he was pissed his little sister found a boyfriend, and partly because he wasn't sure whether to trust Hunter or not.

Then Albus came flying down and nearly landed on top of Hunter. "Sorry," he said unfeelingly when he resurfaced, clapping Hunter on the shoulder, not seeming to notice that he nearly drowned the poor kid from the force of his slap. "Okay," Albus said, looking around at all of us, a mirthless smirk slipping onto his face. "Let's finish this once and for all." With that, he began swimming in the direction of a large opening that looked like it led to something.

"Can you swim?" I asked Rose and she nodded. I let go over her, and she, Hunter, Dominique, and I followed Albus to the edge of the water. Once we were all out, we made our way to the opening and down another unevenly grounded tunnel. It was dark and dank, as it was in the caves that Alex had led us to near Hogwarts in our sixth year. It made my stomach roll with nausea as I thought about him. I hoped that this would be the night Alex would be gone.

It didn't take long for us to hear screams echo throughout the caves. Lily's screams. Albus's eyes flashed, and he opened his mouth to say something, but Hunter cut him off. "Shut up," he snapped, listening intently. "That's not Lily's screams…"

"You would know," Dominique muttered and Albus shot her a look of pure rage. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"It's not hers," Hunter said again. "It sounds like… No, it can't be… But I'm certain it's… Christabel. Fuck." Then he and Albus were both running in the direction of the screams, both looking like crazy people as they stumbled over rocks and each other to get to where the screaming was coming from. Rose, Dominique, and I followed quickly after them, and we were surprised we way ran into a huge room-like cave thing. _Wow, _I thought, _so descriptive, Scorpius. _

In the middle was Christabel Belvidere, her hands tied to a bar attached to the cave wall, and her feet tied to a bar below that higher one. "Albus!" she screamed, her voice cracking at the end. "Albus, you're awake! What the… How did you know where to find me?"

"Don't fucking worry about that," Albus said, stumbling across the room and manually untying her feet before doing her hands. She fell and he caught her swiftly, pushing her hair out of her face. "I… Christabel…" He took a long look at her. "Merlin, you're beautiful." Christabel was searching his face for answers, and he said, "I'll explain everything after we get out of here, I swear. But first I need to ask you something to prove that you're…. you."

Christabel looked confused, but nodded.

"What was the last thing I said to you?" he whispered, barely audible.

"You told me you loved me," she said back, just as softly. That seemed to satisfy Albus, because he crushed her body to his and kissed her softly, and then more eagerly, and then I had to look away because this was just disgusting. I had seen Albus kiss girls before, but not like _that. _

Throughout their whole exchange, Rose, Dominique, and I were staring at the two of them in a horrified awe. I glanced at Rose, and then at Dominique, and then they looked at me. _What the hell? _Dominique mouthed, and I just fucking shrugged, because I was just as shocked as she was. But despite the fact that it was weird, it was kind of relieving, because I had begun to think Albus would always be a player, and never really learn to have any respect for girls aside from the ones in his family.

Finally, the two broke apart, Albus looking more flustered than I ever saw him. There was brokenness in his eyes though. I knew what it was caused by. He was scared Christabel and Hunter were working for Alex. This only made me hope a hundred times more that they weren't. Albus's first love was at stake here. It would kill all of us to seem him heartbroken.

"I'm so confused, Albus," Christabel said softly. "Please, just tell me what's going on."

"I don't know what's going on, love," Albus said, and I nearly puked. _Love? _Did Albus just call her _love? _I'd never heard him call anything or anybody _love _in my entire life. It made me feel sort of tactless. I had never called Rose anything but her name. Who knew Albus was such a fucking romantic. "I'll tell you when I figure it out," he told her.

"Right," Dominique interrupted rudely. "We sort of need to get going or that creepy rapist murderer is going to get your sister-"

"Yes, yes," Albus said, striding forward, but I wasn't listening to him as he spoke. There was an odd noise… Quiet, but consistent… A ticking… But it was being drown out by Albus's continuously loud voice.

"Shut up for a second," I told him, and he looked momentarily hurt, but when he heard the ticking, his expression was wiped clean of any emotion.

His face turned an odd color of green, and then he yelled, "It's a bomb! Get the hell down-"

More out of instinct than anything else, I threw my body over Rose's, my hand covering her face, as a rock disguised as a bomb - luckily on the opposite side of the cave room thing than we were - exploded. The explosion was so loud, that once it was over with, the cave seemed like the quietest place on Earth, despite everyone's ragged breathing.

I swallowed and sat up, pulling Rose with me. I examined her face for damage. Her chin was bleeding. She reached up and touched it instinctively, hissing when her fingers made contact with the relatively deep wound. "I'm sorry," I said as I ripped a strip of my shirt off. "It was my fault. We slid on the ground."

"It's okay," she said softly.

"_Aguamenti,_" I mumbled, pointing it at the bit of fabric, focusing on not sending a jet of water from my wand, but only a few drops. I softly dabbed the bit of fabric on her cut. "I'm sorry," I apologized again. "I don't know the healing spell for this… We were supposed to learn complex healing spells next term in training."

"Don't worry," she said, and something in her voice made me look up to see her eyes.

"What is it?" I inquired, pushing her hair out of her face.

"You're first instinct was to cover me," she murmured. "And now you're making sure _I'm _okay, when you could very easily have been more injured than I am. Why?"

"I love you," I said simply, continuing to add pressure to her cut. "I've told you I love you."

Before she could respond, Albus scrambled to his feet after making sure Christabel was alright. "Merlin," he said. "Is everyone alright?"

He got a round of mumbled positive replies. He proceeded to tell us that we had to get going, because according to the watch his father gave him, we only had an hour until five, and that he was going to murder us all if we were responsible for not getting to his sister on time. So, the six of us continued through the caves, this time Rose's little hand clasped in mine. As we got deeper the caves, we started hearing haunting screams that _were _Lily's this time. Hunter went completely ballistic. Albus tried to keep his cool, but eventually broke down and shouted for Alex to kill him before he did anything to his sister. The screams got louder as we got deeper into the caves.

And finally, they only seemed meters away. Alex's house elf suddenly appeared.

I pushed Rose behind me. "Abner," I said cautiously. "Where is he?"

"Ah, young Scorpius," the elf said, ignoring my question. "How is _Miss Astoria?_" he asked, his tone mocking. I stiffened, but held my ground.

"He must have sent you for something," I said through clenched teeth. "What does he want?"

"Master has asked me to escort you into the lair," Abner said, smiling a sickeningly evil grin.

At that moment, Lily's screams pierced the caves. Abner's smile widened. "How Master has missed the Potter girl," he mumbled, almost to himself. "Come along, children," Abner said, turning and beginning to walk in the direction of an entrance to another cave that was lit with torches. We followed after him.

At first, I didn't see Alex. He was sitting in a grayish blue chair that matched the cave walls, wearing clothing of the same color. I only saw him when he stood from his spot on the chair and spread his arms out wide.

"My old friend Scorpius," he said, looking exactly as he did when we went to Hogwarts together, only a little more mature. He had filled out, as I had, and had gained a more structured face, also as I had. But his eyes had a cold emptiness to them. And it disgusted me. I expected to feel pity toward him. After all, he _had _seems to be my best friend all through school. But I only felt hatred toward him. Pure hatred.

Before I could say anything, Alex grinned. "How I've missed you."

**A/N:**

**Last chapter: Next chapter. Then the epilogue is after that. Then it's done. :DOddly, it was a lot easier to write this chapter. I don't know if you guys can tell or not. It's been exactly a year since I started Her Eyes. Odd. It literally seems like only a few months ago. **

**Comments, questions, predictions? Review your hearts out! (: **

**(No editing again, sorry.)**

**Written,**

**Anonymous;)**


	35. Chapter 35

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Chapter Thirty-Five:**

**Scorpius Malfoy:**

"Unfortunately," I said evenly, "I can't say the same thing."

"_Scorpius!_" a high-pitched scream sounded throughout the cave. My head snapped up and I saw Lily only partly concealed by a huge rock, tied to the wall to the left of me. She was wearing a white sheet, thankfully, and didn't see _too _freaked out, if you ignored the fact that some creepy rapist murderer had kidnapped her and tied her to a wall. I didn't turn to see anybody else's reaction to Lily being tied to the wall, but I could hear Albus growl angrily. I saw out of the corner of my eye that Dominique was laying a restraining hand on his shoulder, but I looked back at Lily just as she began speaking again, "Scorpius, Hunter was with me! Is he okay-"

"He's fine," I answered sharply, my gaze focusing back on Alex. He had a cold fury in his eyes now, but he wasn't looking at me anymore. His gaze was now fixed on Hunter. The kid looked terrible. He had dark circles under his eyes and a cut over his eyebrow that was trickling blood down his face. His eyes showed nothing but pure hatred for Alex. Pure hatred, as well as confusion. Alex really had no reason to hate the boy… did he? Obviously, Hunter was confused why Alex was looking at _him _rather than me or Albus. Unless it was an act.

"Andre," I said, and my use of his real name seemed to catch his attention. His blue eyes were locked on mine, and I had to swallow back the unexpected sense of nostalgia. Alex and I had been friends. We had shared inside jokes and had had each others' backs when one of us were about to get in trouble when we were students at Hogwarts. Mentally shaking my head, I began to speak. "You led us here. We got here on time. Give us Lily."

"I don't think I want to," he said, his voice as cold as ice. "You're stupid, you know that right? How could you have not expected me to go after Lily? She was the easiest target. You think I forgot about her? How could I have forgotten the person I used for direct access to you and your little dream team?" He laughed emotionlessly before turning around and holding out his arms. "Tempest, dear, would you please join me?"

And then, Tempest Turpin scrambled out from behind the large rock that was covering Lily. As I watched her run to Alex and stand by his side, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief as I looked at Hunter and his sister. _They're good, _I thought, letting out a breath. _Thank fucking Merlin that they're good. _Albus seemed to be having the same thoughts, because his grip tightened around Christabel's waist and he grabbed Hunter's shirt, and yanked him closer to the two of them so he could say something to him without saying anything. Hunter, without taking his eyes off of Alex, nodded and Albus let go of his sleeve. I assumed he was apologizing for his behavior earlier. I supposed I owed Hunter an apology as well.

"Thank you," Alex said to Hunter suddenly, making Albus and I tense up again. Were we mistaken?

"What are you talking about you disgusting bastard?" Hunter demanded, his arrogant voice filled with such venom even _I _was proud of the kid.

"For being my beloved sister's cover," Alex drawled, twirling a piece of Tempest's hair between his fingers in a way that a brother did _not _touch his sister. _Wait, what the fuck? These two were related? _I supposed I shouldn't have been surprised. But… how? I shrugged that fact off. It wasn't really a major concern.

"You're what?" Hunter demanded. "You're crazy. You're not right in the head-"

"Of course I'm not," Hunter said, smiling at the boy. "The best of us aren't. You're sister and you, young Hunter Belvidere, were my covers and you didn't even know it. It worked, but not as well as I planned. I originally planned on having you and the beauteous Christabel be Scorpius and his friends' only suspicion, but when my stupid sister," he spat, "soiled the plan by not keeping herself under cover, my plans changed." Suddenly, he whipped his hand across Tempest's face, leaving a red handprint on her cheek. "You stupid little whore," he said, spitting on her face. "I can't believe you _slept _with him."

"With who?" Rose said quietly, her eyes widening.

"_Ah, Rose!_" Alex suddenly shouted, his voice filled with such false cheerfulness I wanted to puke. "How I've missed you!"

"Don't talk to me!" she screamed, and I widened my eyes. "_I hate you!_"

"I've missed your screams, beautiful," Alex said, his voice barely audible. A cold shiver passed between everyone, aside from Alex and Tempest of course. Rose's anger dried up, replaced with a obvious feeling of sickness. I slipped my hand in Rose's, my thumb rubbing soothing circles on the back of her hand, praying that she'd be able to hold her ground at least until this was all over with. "And," Alex said, his voice rising, "to answer your question, my whore of a sister slept with your cousin. Didn't she, Albus? By, the way, you should be dead, my friend." I glanced at Albus from the corner of my eye, to see his face pale as Christabel's eyes widened and she let go of Albus in shock.

"You _slept _with… with… _that?_" she muttered.

"Please, let me explain later," Albus said through clenched teeth. "It's not what you think."

Christabel looked outraged, but she kept her mouth shut.

"Give us Lily," I said, ignoring everyone's pointless squabbles, my attention focused directly on Alex, "and we'll leave in peace."

"Oh, Scorpius," Alex said, shaking his head, "you won't be leaving tonight. Nobody will. Because I'm going to slaughter you all." Suddenly, his eyes landed on Dominique. "Hello, lovely." Her eyes widened, and Albus stuck an arm out in front of her, as if it would shield her from his view. "You're the most pointless of them all, aren't you? I've yet to have any fun with _you._" On the word "you" he whipped a knife out of his pocket and threw it at her. Albus shoved her down to the ground, and the knife hit the stone wall behind her.

"Dominique," I said through clenched teeth, my mind racing. He was armed. Heavily armed, most likely. "Get behind me. Don't move unless I tell you to."

"You can't protect them all, dear Scorpius. You've made _that _quite clear."

"What are you talking about?" I snarled, sliding my hand out of Rose's and slipping it in my back pocket, instantly relieved when my fingers curled around my wand.

"Well, you couldn't protect your mother from me, could you?" he said quietly, and I froze.

"_You ruthless bastard!_" Rose shrieked, pulling out her wand and screaming, _"Stupefy!"_

Alex threw Tempest in front of him before ducking out of the way. He pulled out his wand, finally resulting in magic rather than muggle weapons. _"Crucio!" _he yelled, pointing his wand a Lily. She screamed a haunting, bloodcurdling shriek that stopped all of us dead in our tracks, aside from Hunter.

"Lily!" he shouted, the veins in his neck showing and another pulsing right in the middle of his forehead. Alex's eyes flashed and he slowly turned his gaze on Hunter. I watched in horror as Alex turned his wand on the kid. Alex wouldn't hesitate to use the Killing Curse, that much was clear. He surely had no problem using the Cruciatus Curse.

I was struggling to keep my mind _there. _I had to the protect the people who were still alive. Not the people who had already died. My mother was dead. She wasn't coming back. I had to make sure Alex didn't kill anymore innocent people. I shoved all thoughts of my mother aside and focused on Alex. "You're not going to win," I told him steadily. "You can count on that."

That got his attention away from Hunter, but his wand was still pointed at the kid. "What makes you say that?" Alex asked, and his eyes flickered in the direction of the entrance for a moment too long. I spun around, but was blown off my feet before I could see who had sent the curse my way. The elf couldn't have done it, he was standing next to Alex, as was Tempest. _Hawk, _I thought, my mind seeming to go a bit fuzzy since I hit my head. _How could I have forgotten about Maverick Hawk? _I should have wondered where he was.

Rose was screaming, falling to her knees beside me. I could hear Albus shouting in the distance, "_You! _I should have known it was you!" I opened my eyes just enough to see not Hawk standing in the entrance of the cave, but Furor Gust, our instructor in training. I pushed myself up into a sitting position, wincing, leaning on Rose for support. Gust was grinning manically, and I thought, _Why didn't I think of it sooner? _It was a perfect opportunity for Alex to weaken us. Gust was the one who taught us to fight. He would know every move we tried to make. Basically, we were fucked.

"Ah, Furor," Alex said, grinning. "How brilliant for you to join us. Will our dear friend Maverick be joining us on this fantastic morning?" Furor and Alex laughed together as Furor made his way across the room, shoving Hunter out of the way as he did so.

"No," Gust said, "I'm afraid not. He ran into some… _trouble._" So Hawk _was _part of this… But, how?

"Would that trouble be you?" Alex asked, chortling, and Gust joined him once more.

"Set up some traps," Gust said, swaggering over to Lily. He stroked her face softly. "Hawk won't be around for awhile."

_Why would Hawk have been around to start with if he wasn't working for them? _I thought distantly, my head pounding. I stood, still leaning on Rose, who was holding my arm, trying to keep my steady.

"Ah, so you're the Potter girl," Gust was saying to Lily as my mind tried to process what was going on. "Aren't you pretty…" He breathed. Lily's eyes were snapped shut, her entire body stiff. I could feel the tension flowing off of Hunter and Albus in waves. Gust twirled a piece of her hair in his fingers, and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him. "I claim her, Andre," he said, and Alex's eyes flashed once more. I was longing to act, to blow Gust's head off for touching Lily like that, but we all knew that if Alex was comfortable using the Unforgivables, one of us could be dead in an instant.

"No, you don't," Alex snapped. "Get back over here, Gust."

There was something about the way he spoke when Gust "claimed" Lily. Something so strange, yet so familiar… Something so…

"Fine, fine," Gust said. "I'll let you keep the girl to yourself. Let me just…" He grabbed her by the hair and yanked her forward, his lips nearly touching hers. Then, this disgusting, middle-aged man, pressed his lips to Lily's, a seventeen year old girl…

"_Don't fucking touch her!" _Hunter screamed and practically flew across the room, tackling Gust to the ground. It surprised Gust, so Hunter had the advantage, but only for a moment, for Gust was instantly on top of him, pounding the kid's head into the rock solid ground. All hell broke loose at that moment, because Christabel screamed to go to her brother, but Albus held her back, pulling out his wand, and yelling, "_Confundo!_" at Gust, who blocked it smartly, his other hand wrapping around Hunter's neck. Lily was shrieking uncontrollably, Rose was trying to hold me steady, Albus was trying to keep Christabel from getting herself killed, and Dominique was… talking to a house elf.

_My _house elf.

"Albus!" I yelled, knowing he'd be the most capable of taking down Gust. "Let Christabel go! Your sister needs you! Finish Gust and… I have to talk to Verney! Give me two seconds." Albus looked torn, but eventually flung Christabel at Rose, who awkwardly let go of me and clumsily caught Christabel by the arms. I staggered across the way to Verney, who was looking at me with big eyes. I glanced at Dominque. "Go untie Lily while Gust is distracted."

"What about Alex?" she demanded. I spun around to look at Alex, who seemed to be shuffling frantically around on a table for something. "Never mind," she said. "I'll keep an eye on him. Do what you need to do. And Scorpius," she said, "_don't hesitate to call on the aurors._" She scurried off, gracefully running around the fighting that men. Albus was now throwing Gust off of Hunter, who looked unconscious on the ground.

I turned to Verney, glancing at Alex one more time, who was now shuffling around in the drawers of the desk, seeming rather panicky. It was stupid for me to leave him alone, but I had to have my house-elf's help. "Verney," I said, my voice very quick and loud. "Go tell Harry Potter and Ron Weasley what's going on. Teddy Lupin and River Connolly as well. Tell them to send back up. Tell them to hurry and that we're outnumbered. We don't have much time and the only people who know how to fight properly is me and Albus. Hunter is under trained and the girls… just… whatever. Anyway, go. Come back as soon as you can."

"Yes, sir, anything for Master!" Verney stammered. "But, sir, you must understand that Abner the house elf is a very old, wizened house elf, very dangerous, sir-"

"Go, Verney!" I yelled desperately. "Please. Go."

Verney apparated on the spot.

"_Scorpius!_" Dominique suddenly shrieked, her voice silencing everyone instantly. I spun around, my wand pointed outward in an instant, to see a very large, very sharp looking knife - which is what he must have been looking for in the desk - being held to Rose's throat by Alex. Christabel was laying on the ground unconscious where Rose had been restraining her. I lowered my wand slowly. Alex was laughing manically and Rose's eyes were clamped shut, her face very pale.

I was desperate to find a way to get her out of his grasp. Anything… Anything that would do. I searched the room frantically. My eyes grazed across Albus, who had Gust on the ground, a wand to his throat. Gust wouldn't move if he knew what was right for him. My eyes slid past them, then Dominique, and landed on Lily… Suddenly, my previous thoughts tumbled into my brain. _There was something about the way he spoke when Gust "claimed" Lily. Something so strange, yet so familiar… Something so… _

Realization hit me like a ton of bricks.

Alex cared about Lily. She was the only thing he cared about and had ever cared about. And for the only thing to be taken away from you that you ever cared about, you would be nothing.

I stormed across the room to Lily, Alex only watching in amused curiosity. What an idiot he was. I hastily untied the last of her ties that Dominique had begun to unravel. Then, realization began to dawn on Alex. "Listen to me," I breathed to Lily so only she could hear. "Play along. I won't hurt you. _Play along._"

I jabbed my wand to her neck, where Alex could see, and dragged her roughly into the center of the cave once more. Rose was watching me with wide eyes, as was Albus and Dominique. Luckily, Hunter and Christabel were still unconscious. I faced Alex now steadily, the two of us standing there, his knife held to Rose's throat and my wand held to Lily's. "If you make one move, Andre," I said emotionlessly. "I will kill her. And you don't want that, do you?"

Alex's eyes darted from mine to Lily's. His hand that held the knife quivered. The silence in the room was painful, the only noise _I _could hear was my heart slamming against my ribcage. Veins in Alex's forehead pulsed as he mentally debated with himself what to do.

After another long few seconds of silence, Alex looked at Lily, and said, "I'm sorry," before beginning to thrust his knife into Rose's throat. I opened my mouth to shout, but I was drowned out by another deafening roar.

"_Expelliarmus!" _

The knife flew out of Alex's hand and soared across the room. Everyone spun around to see Maverick Hawk standing in the doorway, his arm outstretched with his wand held in his hand. His black robes were tattered and burnt in certain places, but he looked put together, despite Gust's "traps" that were mentioned earlier. The knife clattered to the floor by his feet.

I began to understand instantly that Hawk was on our side, for he began shooting curses and hexes at Alex before anybody could say anything. Alex dropped Rose and began throwing up shields as he scuttled back over to the desk, no doubt in search for another knife. I pulled Rose to her feet, my eyes momentarily examining her neck. There was blood, but the wound wasn't deep.

I lifted my wand, preparing to finish Alex once and for all, but I got hit with a stunning spell strong enough to knock the wind out of me, but not knock me unconscious. I looked up to see Abner standing on top of the desk, shooting spells at me, then at Hawk, and then at Albus and Dominique. Albus hand to take his wand from Gust's neck to throw a shield up over Dominique, Hunter, and himself. Rose had a shield covering Christabel and herself, as well, but I knew they wouldn't last long. Abner's curses were penetrating the shields to the point that you could literally see them deteriorating.

At this point, I was pretty much losing it, completely unsure of what to do. I was almost convinced that I was going to die, as were my friends, and their deaths would be my fault. But at that moment, the scariest moment of my life, I heard Verney apparate into the caves. He didn't seem surprised that Abner was fighting us now, as Alex pretty much cowered in the corner, looking for his knives.

As soon as Verney appeared in the room, Abner's attention turned on him. Then the two house elves were shooting curses at each other, first red lights flashing, then yellow, blue, orange, and finally the most dreaded green. The Killing Curse color.

Alex seemed to give up looking for the muggle weapons, finally resulting back to his wand. Nobody seemed to notice except for me, as he lifted his wand, and screamed, _"Avada Kedavra!" _His wand was pointed directly at me. I lifted my arms, as if that would shield me, instantly expecting to die, but suddenly, a dark shape flung itself over me.

The person's weight instantly turned dead and I struggled to shove him off of me. As I did this, aurors began to flood the cave, Harry Potter leading them. Alex looked manic, his eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets. Harry had him and his elf bound in ropes in an instant, with Ron Weasley at his side securing the ropes with different spells. Things seemed to happen in slow motion, but I stood up, forgetting about the person who had just killed themselves for me - something I would forever regret - and shouted, _"WAIT!"_

Harry looked up at me, surprised, like he forgot I would even be there.

"Let me finish him," I snarled, stepping forward, shoving my way past about twelve aurors.

"Scorpius, we have to take him to Azkaban-" Harry began.

"_No!_" I shouted, the rage that had been threatening to boil over all night finally reaching it's peak and exploding. "He killed my father, my mother, he caused so much suffering to the people I love that he deserves to die! He deserves to die painfully! _Crucio!_"

Alex screamed, his body jerking inside of the ropes.

"_Scorpius!_" Rose shrieked, staggering forward. I shrugged her off of me. I hated Andre Shroudrouge. He had taken everything from me. _Everything. _

"This isn't you, Scorpius!" Albus said, walking forward glancing back at Gust to make sure he wasn't going to leap out and kill him, who was now being restrained by River and Teddy. "Don't stoop down to his level!" Albus continued, his voice echoing throughout the cave walls. "This isn't-"

Green light flashed in front of us, and Albus and I whipped our heads around to see that Abner had broken free from the ropes and had shot and killing curse at me. He began shooting them at random, hitting three or four aurors in the group, his little mouth pulled back into a savage grimace. People were ducking, and Harry had let go of Alex to try and stop the elf, but he continued to throw killing curses. One nearly hitting Rose, another narrowly missing Hunter, then one heading straight for Dominique and-

Hitting River square in the chest.

It all happened so fast that I could barely see what happened at all. River had leapt in front of Dominique to protect her from Abner's curse, just as Abner fell to the ground, dead. I looked across the room in the only direction that the curse that hit Abner came from. Verney. My eyes widened when I saw that he had fallen to the ground too. Dead. Verney. _Dead. _No. _NO! _

Abner must have sent off two killing curses, one in Verney's direction and the other in Rivers, and Verney must have sent on off to kill Abner in that exact moment. Two of my most trusted comrades had been killed. Both out of love and loyalty. River's love and loyalty to Dominique, who was now on her knees at his side, screaming his name. Then there was Verney's love and loyalty to me. I didn't know why he had loved me enough to die for me, but I would never _ever _forget it.

Things were quiet for a moment, but it was broken by Ron Weasley's very prominent, very loud voice, "The Shroudrouge kid… He's dead. Seems to have been poisoned." Ron held up a small vile, half filled with a green liquid, the disgusting stuff leaking from a crack on the bottom. "Must have drank it when we came in. Knew he was going to lose, so he killed himself."

…

I sat quietly in a squishy armchair in a conference room at the Ministry of Magic, my head resting in my hands. I had been there since the moment we left the caves. Everyone had. This was the only place Harry was certain wouldn't get any photographers or press, because the conference rooms at the Ministry were completely off limits to anybody who didn't have permission from the Minister himself.

It was so strange, Alex being dead. I kept expecting him to send a cryptic little note saying he was still alive, but I didn't get one. They had taken his body for cremation, and I was certain he was completely locked up just incase he magically came back from the dead.

I didn't know how I felt about Alex poisoning himself. Part of me was glad that I didn't have to kill him, part of me was angry that he put us through all of that bullshit since sixth year, and just killed himself. It's like he didn't care. Like, he'd rather die than face what he deserved. Any real man would have stared down the monster, rather than just give up. But I came to the conclusion that I didn't care. Alex was gone. He didn't matter anymore. The only people who mattered were the people I cared about.

I felt sick to my stomach. Three people close to me had died that day. River, Verney, and Maverick Hawk. Hawk was the person who threw his body over mine when Alex had sent the killing curse. Though I had no clue who Maverick Hawk was or how he had any relation to anything in my life, I knew that for some reason, it was him who kept Alex from getting to us sooner. He had stayed in the shadows, watching, waiting for Alex to pounce. Who knew how many times Alex had tried and failed because of Hawk? I didn't know, but I had a feeling it was plenty of times.

Hawk knew my father. I didn't know how he knew my father, I just knew he did. When I had staggered tiredly over to his body that was laying on a stretcher in the caves, I looked in his pockets, hoping for something that told me who he was. All I found was an envelope. In the envelope was the real Malfoy ring and a bit of parchment that read, _"Your father would have been proud." _

I had pretty much starting bawling like a fucking baby right then and there. Albus had to lead me out. I'm sure Rose would have done it, but she was being examined by healers to make sure here wounds weren't going to get infected. But Albus and I apparated back up to the surface, where I pretty much collapsed on the ground and screamed at Merlin for being so ruthless. Albus sat by a tree, waiting for me to let every bit of emotion out. Then I looked at that fucker and nearly started crying again. The relief I hadn't been allowed to feel so completely earlier for his wellbeing flooded through me. I hugged that bastard before everyone came flooding out of the caves. Then, Harry and Albus's reunion nearly made me start crying _again._

Who knew I was such an emotional piece of shit?

The two stared at each other before Albus stuck out his hand awkwardly, to shake his father's, but Harry hugged him so tightly I thought Albus was going to get knocked unconscious. Dominique had to be dragged out of the caves by Christabel and Lily. Rose was last, lingering with the healers, who were still examining her.

Hunter had made his way out sometime around the time Christabel and Lily did. I clapped him on the shoulder, and her grinned halfheartedly at me before going and hugging Lily and his sister, and thanking Albus for pulling Gust off of him.

Gust had been taken to Azkaban, like he deserved. Tempest Turpin had fled, with literally _nobody _noticing, but was caught quickly by Teddy who had been sent to look for her the moment someone realized she was gone. My not noticing her scurry away like the disgusting rat she was told me that I was _not _ready to be a real auror yet, and it was good that I still had three years of training.

And that was it. We were at the Ministry now, and people wouldn't stop asking questions, but finally, Harry had kicked all of the Ministry officials out and only let family in. It was kind of depressing as I sat there while everyone else were being hugged enthusiastically by their family. I didn't have any family any more. Not even Verney. I was alone.

"Scorpius!" Albus called. I glanced up at him. He was standing amongst his family, who were all staring at me. "Get your ass over here," he said. "Your family wants to welcome you home."

I grinned weakly before standing up and walking over to the entire Weasley-Potter-Lupin clan. They all engulfed me, and as they did so, I thought maybe, _just maybe, _someday I would feel whole again.

…

"Hey," Rose said softly as she opened the backdoor to the Burrow and stepped out, closing it behind her. "Why do you keep running off all alone? I don't want to lose you." Her tone was gentle, but she sounded genuinely worried.

"Come here," I said, taking her by the hand and pulling her into my lap. I was sitting on a wooden rocker that I assumed was Molly's. The sun was just beginning to go down. It was odd to think that in less than twelve hours, Alex would have been dead for twenty-four hours already.

Rose curled up in my lap, her head resting on my chest. "It's pretty here, isn't it?" she asked.

"Yes," I said, kissing her forehead. "But you're prettier."

I could almost feel her flush. "I love you, Scorpius," she murmured. "I've always loved you."

"I love you too," I said. "But of course, you know that." I grinned down at her, pushing her hair away from her face. "I've always loved you, I'll always love you. Nothing is ever going to change that." It was true. I couldn't see myself being with anybody else but her for the rest of my life. She was more beautiful than the sun or the moon, and she was kinder than anybody else I knew. She put up with my bullshit, too, so that always helped.

"I'm not going anywhere," she murmured, reaching up and running her fingers through my hair.

"I know," I said, catching her fingers and lacing my fingers through them. "I won't let you."

"I had a feeling you might say something like that," Rose said, laughing gently. "Don't worry, though. I won't let you leave either."

"I wouldn't leave in the first place, beautiful," I said quietly, stroking the back of her hand with my thumb. "I was never gone."

Rose watched as the sun set, casting pink and orange lights all around the horizon. But as she watched the sun, I watched her. Her hair fell down her back in loose tendrils, her lips jutted out in their natural pout, and her eyelashes cast shadows on her cheeks. Her eyes were the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Those huge chocolate orbs that I had seen angry, betrayed, playful, sad, happy… Those beautiful brown eyes were what kept me living. I never wanted to leave her side. I would _not _ever leave her side. The intensity of my devotion to her was like a thousand supernovas.

After carefully sliding my hand out of hers, I placed my index and middle finger under her chin and tilted her head up so I could press my lips to hers, satisfied to know that this was the beginning of our new life together. Nothing to fear, nothing to hide from. Only pure bliss. The two of us together. Just us.

Scorpius and Rose.

**A/N:**

**And that is sort of the end but not really, because the Epilogue is next (Up probably tomorrow).**

**I have some outtakes (the sex scene, a few things I've taken from the Epilogue, etc). Idk whether or not I'll post the outtakes, because obviously there's a reason I didn't keep them in the story…haha.**

**If you'd please not point out all the plot holes in this, that'd be great. Like, I know what the plot holes are and stuff, so there's no need for you guys to tell me. I tried to fit them all in there, but as many of you know, I wing it. There's a general plan for the story, but I don't write an extremely detailed outline before hand or anything. I write for fun, not because I'm super serious about it.**

**The Hawk thing though, was NOT an plot hole. Now that I read back, I'm like, "wow it sounds like I didn't have a place for him so I just made him sort of a mystery" but that's not how it was. Hawk was a massive mystery because those are my favorite characters ever. I love characters that have a whole story of their own, but their story is just a massive mystery. It lets my imagination wander. Obviously, I know Hawk's story, but I'll let you guys make something up by yourself for him.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading. All of the gooshy "oh my gosh I love you all so much" stuff will be in the A/N of the Epilogue. **

**I love you all!**

**Written,**

**Anonymous;) **


	36. Epilogue

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**Epilogue:**

**Scorpius Malfoy:**

He must have heard me apparating, because as soon as I steadied my feet, Phoenix ran to meet me in front of the large white and red house. I watched, grinning, as he nearly stumbled down the steps leading down from the porch, his feet getting caught in his too-big, blue and white striped pajamas. "Daddy!" he called, continuing to run down the stone path. I met him half-way, scooping him up and hugging him tightly. "Daddy!" he cried again, throwing his arms around me and burying his face in the crook of my neck.

"Hey, buddy," I said, ruffling his nearly-white hair that stuck up in every direction possible. He pulled away to look at me and grinned the grin he inherited from Rose at me, his big, grayish blue eyes blazing with excitement. I didn't understand how he could be so excited to see me, since I had only been gone for eight hours, but that didn't matter, because I was probably more excited to see him than he was to see me. "What'd you do today?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Mummy and me went to Auntie Dom's and went and saw Auntie Christabel, too! They took me to the park and talked about boring stuff, but then Hunter got out of training early and he came to play with me! I asked where Lily was, but he said that she was busy looking at wedding stuff," he chattered on. I smiled as he continued to talk about his day. Phoenix was adorable. He was the cutest kid I had ever seen in my entire life, and I wasn't even being biased. He had my nearly-white hair and gray eyes, along with my pale skin and pointed features. But he had inherited Rose's pouty lips and the arch of her eyebrows, along with a few freckles sprinkled across his nose and cheeks. He was probably more like me than he was like Rose. I mean, he had both of our attributes, but by the occasional determined stride and the haughty way he held his shoulders, I could tell he'd probably be a lot like me when he as older. He was only two and half, but was ridiculously articulate for his age. I was so proud of him.

I looked up to see Rose leaning against the doorway to our house, an eyebrow raised. She was wearing one of my old v-neck t-shirts, with flannel pajama pants that looked about two times too big. Her baggy clothes were due to the fact that she was pregnant with our second child, a girl, who was supposed to be born in December, three months from now. I smiled at her, and she smiled back as I walked up the front steps to greet her. She took our son from me, holding him at her waist. "I told you that you could stay awake until your father got home," she said, kissing his cheek. Phoenix put his arms around her and buried his head in the crook of her neck before pulling away. She set him down. "Go up to your room and choose a book to read, sweetheart," she said and he nodded eagerly before scrambling inside the house and up the stairs.

"Hello," she said, wrapping her arms around my neck and standing on her tiptoes to kiss me. I slid my arms around her waist and hugged her tightly, smiling against her lips. Once she pulled away, I planted a kiss on her jaw bone before taking her hand and leading her into the house. It was cluttered with toy trains and little Quidditch figurines. Laying haphazardly on the couch was Phoenix's beloved toy broomstick, that he nearly killed the neighbor's dog with, then proceeded to claim that the dog was in the way. I remembered that night way too clearly. The neighbor was yelling at us, and Phoenix then shouted for the neighbor to "fuck off" and for his dog to "get his shit together." Once we had gotten back in the house, Rose had sighed and said, "Yep, he's definitely your son."

"I'm going to go upstairs and get him to bed," she murmured, running her fingers through my hair. "You can come say goodnight when I'm done reading to him."

"Why can't I read to him?" I demanded, only half-indignant.

"Because we both know what happened the last time you tried to read him to sleep. You decided the book was boring, so you told him some story of about a fantastic wizard warrior called 'The Scorpion' and didn't know how to finish it, so somehow Albus ended up over here to finish it for you, and gave him nightmares for weeks-"

"Right," I said sheepishly. "Sorry."

Rose rolled her eyes and grinned, turning for the stairs. "Wait," I said, and she turned back. I kissed her once more, before leaning down and kissing her stomach. Rose flushed and her smile widened before she continued up the stairs.

I shook my head, smirking, and made my way into the kitchen, where I opened a bottle of firewhisky and examined the moving pictures on our refrigerator. First, there were some from mine and Rose's wedding. The first photo of our wedding was us kissing, and the second one was of us smiling and Albus photo bombing us. Next, there were pictures of Rose and I at the hospital when Phoenix had been born. Easily the most amazing and terrifying day of my life. There had been a few complications, but Phoenix had been delivered safely in the end. In the photo, Rose and I were holding him, watching him open his eyes for the first time. The second one was of me holding Phoenix alone for the first time and Albus photo bombing us again. Then there were several pictures of Phoenix since had been born. Scattered throughout those were pictures from Albus and Christabel's wedding, which I happily photo bombed as many fucking times as could. There were pictures of Dominique and her fiancé, a healer named Avery who she had met at medical school, at their engagement party. There were also some pictures of Hunter proposing to Lily at Christmas the year before. I grinned and shook my head at that memory. Hunter had nearly puked when Harry came and clapped him on the shoulder, congratulating the two of them.

It reminded me of when I asked for Ron's permission to officially propose to Rose. The two of us had gone to lunch and sat awkwardly there for almost thirty minutes before I built up the courage to choke out that I was planning to ask his daughter, who we had found out was pregnant with Phoenix only a few weeks before, to marry me. Needless to say, Ron wasn't that happy with me at that time… But I figured there was no better time, so I went for it. Since then, I had been happier than I ever was.

Of course, there were times where I made myself sick with memories from the past, but I had to remind myself that they were the past for a reason. Alex, my father, my mother, Shroudrouge, Verney, River, Hawk… they were all the past and that's where they were staying there. Even though sometimes I missed my mother and father to the point where it hurt, I knew that I would see them again one day, whether it was in a heaven or a hell, I didn't know, all I knew is that _someday _we would be reunited.

I sighed, taking a swig of my firewhisky, deciding to think of lighter subjects. Like the fact that Christabel was due with her and Albus's first child literally any day. Albus was a train wreck. He was trying desperately to make money, seeming to forget that he was an auror, which was one of the highest paying jobs in wizarding society _and _he was a Potter, one of the wealthiest families in the wizarding world. He had went out and bought three cribs before he finally registered that he already had one. It was a bit of a shock to him that he was going to be a father, to say the least.

Dominique had gotten engaged to Avery, who was the healer in the pictures. He was nice. He kept to himself, but he was good for Dominique. He kept her check. He genuinely cared for her and loved her more than anything else. Avery was no River, but River was gone and he was never coming back. I knew Dominique missed River, but she loved Avery too. That much was obvious.

Then there was Hunter and Lily. They were probably the most sickly sweet couple I knew, and now that they were getting married, they were _always _going to be a sickly sweet couple. Albus and I had gone with Hunter to get the ring, and the poor kid could barely speak as he held the diamond in his hand. Albus slapped him on the shoulder, asked, "Are you going to fucking _cry_?" and proceeded to tell the clerk to get "one of those velvet box things" to put it in.

I sighed before deciding it was probably safe to go upstairs and say goodnight to Phoenix. Once I got up there, I caught him just as he was dozing off. Rose stood in the doorway as I knelt beside his bed and kissed his forehead. "Daddy?" Phoenix asked sleepily as I pushed his messy hair back from his face.

"Yes?" I asked, pulling the blankets up to his chin.

"I have to…" He yawned, momentarily cutting off his speaking. "I have to get my sleep."

"Right," I said nodding, grinning at the fact that he got a little confused before he finally fell asleep.

"Because… I'm going to be an auror, just like you and Uncle Albus. I have to be big and strong," he mumbled, his eyes finally falling shut, purple veins visible on his eyelids. I kissed his forehead once more before pulling away. I quietly made my way back to the door. Suddenly, Phoenix said, "Daddy?"

"Yes?" I asked again.

"I love you," he said before finally falling asleep.

"I love you too, son," I said, before switching off the light and closing the door lightly behind Rose and I.

Rose sighed, taking my hand in hers. "My boys," she said, her smile more radiant that the sun. _So many smiles, _I thought happily. We smiled so much now. So much more than we did during the "Alex times," which is what we referred to it as when we rarely spoke about it.

Minutes later, the two of us were back in the cluttered kitchen. I was leaning against the counter and Rose was leaning forward against me, our unborn child between us. One of my hands was resting on her waist, the other in the single pocket on the left side of the back of her pajama pants.

"Are you tired?" I murmured softly, my forehead resting against hers as I pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear.

She shook her head, but her actions deceived her, for she yawned almost directly after. "Maybe a little," she admitted. I laughed softly, my fingers trailing up and down her arms. She shivered and put her arms around my neck. "I suppose we could go to bed if you want. Unless you're hungry. Have you eaten dinner yet?"

"I ate with Albus before I came home," I said. That wasn't usually the case, but I had worked late, and figured that Rose would have only cooked for Phoenix and herself that night.

Rose took on an air of false hurt. "I can't believe you're abandoning us for _Albus,_" she said mockingly, giggling when I kissed her from her temple down her jaw and then finally, her lips. She sighed when I pulled away and rested her head on my chest. "I miss you when you're at work," she pouted.

Albus and I had graduated from our training at the academy and had finally started _actually _working. Rose and Dominique had decided that they really didn't want to become aurors after all and dropped out. Dominique was still in school to become and healer's assistant - which is how she met Avery - and Rose had figured out she was pregnant with Phoenix only a few weeks after she dropped out, so she had decided to take a couple years off, at least until she felt comfortable leaving him with a nanny, but now that we had _another _baby on the way, I figured she wouldn't start her career for a couple more years.

"I know," I said, taking her hand and leading her out of the kitchen, flipping off the light as I did so. "I miss you too." Shoving Phoenix's toy broomstick off the couch, I sat down and pulled Rose onto my lap. "But we have the rest of our lives," I said softly and she bit her lip as she stared at my own. Slipping my hand into her hair, I pulled her closer so I could kiss her. Her lips were still just as soft has they were when we were teenagers, her fingers still just as gentle, her body just as amazing.

Of course, things weren't always _peachy keen. _We had our moments, just as we did when we were teenagers. We still argued and disagreed sometimes, but I think that was a given, considering Rose and I were completely different from one another. There was only a few times when an argument got out of hand, but we always made up in the end.

"I love you," Rose softly when I pulled away. Her lips were swollen from kissing and her cheeks were flushed.

"I love you," I replied, trailing my fingers down her jaw bone, smiling when I felt our baby girl move inside of her. At first, the whole pregnancy thing freaked me out, due to the fact that Phoenix had been a bit of an… accident. Rose showing up at mine an Albus's flat, her face streaked with tears, the words, "I'm pregnant" leaving her mouth as soon as I asked what was wrong was definitely a surprise. Rose and I definitely didn't intend on starting a family so young, that's just how it happened. I didn't regret it at all. And now, we were going to have our second kid in three months, and things couldn't be better.

Rose and I laid on the couch for a long time, until she finally dozed off. I could tell by the way her fingers fell slack from their grip on my shirt. I chuckled lightly as I lifted her arms around my neck and slid my arms under her body, one at the back of her knees, the other one at her upper back. I stood up, careful not to jostle her, and walked up the stairs, flipping off the light with my elbow before leaving the room.

Once I got into our bedroom, I laid her on her side of the bed and covered her with the blanket. After pulling off my shirt and pants, I slipped into bed next to her, not hesitating to slid my arm across her waist. As I did so, she twisted her body so she was facing me and curled up against my chest. I buried my face in her hair as she sighed contentedly.

As I laid there with my beautiful wife, my son sleeping safely in the room down the hall, I felt a great amount of peace settle over me. I had never pictured myself with this life, because for the longest time I wanted what was beneficial for me. What I didn't realize is that this was, in fact, beneficial for me, as well as for the woman and child I loved. Nothing would ever make me more happy than them. I would never love anybody or anything more than them, and as I laid there in bed, the only sound in the room being mine and Rose's breathing, I felt whole.

I fell asleep knowing that'd I'd be able to wake up to the love of my life and the child I loved more than I thought possible the next day. And the day after that. And after that. And even after that. Forever.

**A/N:**

**And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the end of my little two-part series. I've been writing it for a few days over a year, and I don't think I've spent this much time on anything in my life, ever. **

**Right, before I get into the whole "thank you sooo much" stuff, I want to address a few things in the epilogue. For all of you horrible people who are going to be like "I'm a little disappointed that they had baby that early blah blah blah" **_**get over it. **_**Sorry, but that's real life. I feel like in books, authors make things completely perfect and on time in the epilogues and I wanted to do something different. **

**Now, thanks so much to all of you who have been with me since the very beginning. You guys are what has kept me going. If it weren't for you, Her Eyes and My Devotion probably wouldn't ever be finished. Basically: Thank you. So much. **

**My next story probably won't be started for awhile, because I need a break…haha. But keep an eye out. I'm not completely sure if it'll be the Dramione fic I was talking about, but most likely. It could also be a Teddy/Victoire. Someone even said it'd be cool to do a Draco/Astoria one, but idk. I never really cared that much for their pairing. **

**The outtakes will POSSIBLY be up. I don't know. There's a reason they're not in the story… lol. **

**Now, I will thank you all once again before saying goodbye until my next story… THANK YOU. (: Scorpius and Rose would be nothing without you guys.**

**Written,**

**Anonymous;)**

**PS: To those of you who think that Hunter and Lily get married when Albus and Christabel are married… it's not incest, I promise. Hunter and Lily aren't blood related if Albus and Christabel get married. That's not how it works. Lol.**


	37. Oneshot: His Permission

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

**Hey, guys! Long time since I've spoken to all of you. Okay, so for those of you who are reading my currently-on-hiatus story, Bound to Repeat, I mentioned that if I had some time I'd do some one-shots of My Devotion. So here it is.**

**There was always one part mentioned in the epilogue that I wanted to write - that being Scorpius asking Ron's permission to marry Rose. I thought it would be ridiculously fun so here I am writing it. Let me know if you like these one-shots, and I'll possibly do one or two more. I can't really do a ton of them, because then it would be dragging this out WAY too much. **

**But hey. I miss this Scorpius a lot. Anyway. Here's that one-shot.**

**Disclaimer: Anything mentioned in this about HP or JKR is not mine. The whole thing is basically **

**about HP or JKR, so none of it is mine. Thanks for reading. **

**My Devotion**

**One-Shot: His Permission **

**Scorpius Malfoy: **

_Calm down. Calm the hell down, _I thought to myself as I paced back and forth across the living room of mine and Albus's flat. It was seven o'clock in the morning, a time that I was usually _never _awake for unless I had training. But today was it. Today was the day that I was probably going to make the biggest dipshit out of myself ever.

I was going to ask Ron if I could marry Rose.

I knew what everyone was going to think once I proposed. They'd think I was only doing it because Rose was pregnant with my child. Fuck, knowing Rose, she'd think that was the reason I was proposing too. But that wasn't it. I mean it was _part _of it, but only a tiny part of it. I was going to ask Rose to marry me because I didn't see why I shouldn't. I knew I wanted to marry her. I had known I'd wanted to marry her for a long time. _Yes, _she was carrying my child, and _yes, _I wanted my son or daughter to have married parents. But if I didn't know whether or not I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, I would most definitely not ask her to marry me.

"What the hell are you doing up so early?" Albus's voice cut into my thoughts. I turned to see him standing in the entrance of the hallway, his flannel pajama pants sagging low, revealing purple silk boxers with little golden snitches printed on to them. Christabel - wearing one of Albus's white shirts and pink yoga pants, which I hoped were _not _Albus's - clung to his arm, her hand resting on his bare chest. The two were so fucking cute it was sickening. I was surprised they weren't the ones having the kid with how much sex the two of them had. She was over at our flat all the time, more than Rose was. I didn't blame Rose for not wanting to come over. With the sounds Albus and Christabel made most nights, I wouldn't want to come over either.

"Can you two put on some damn clothes?" I asked incredulously, moving some brown boxes out of the path that led into the kitchen. Mine and Albus's lease ended in two weeks. Two weeks and I'd be moving into a flat with Rose so we could start our lives together. It made me feel sort of empty - not because I didn't want to live with her, but because Albus and I would never be flat mates again. With every thing we'd been through together - hating each other until our sixth year, becoming best friends, dealing with Alex, dealing with Albus's coma, all of it - it was kind of hard to say goodbye to someone that you thought of not only as your best friend, but as your brother.

"Hey," Christabel said. "At least we put on _something_ before we came out here."

"Well, you might as well have come out naked. It's not like I couldn't hear what you were doing last night," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Not cool," Christabel said, and Albus grinned like he was proud of himself. Cocky bastard.

"Not _cool?_" I asked, in a high-pitched American accent that sounded nothing like hers. "Golly, Christabel, I'm sorry you feel that way."

Albus snickered and Christabel smiled. Christabel and I had developed a love-hate relationship. She was annoying as fuck, but so was her little brother Hunter, and he had become one of my best friends. So I sort of had to like her, considering she was my best mate's girlfriend and my second best mate's older sister. But, it's not like I disliked her _completely. _Despite her completely unnerving qualities and grating voice, she could be funny sometimes. She was… well… a lot like me.

"So today's the big day, then?" Albus asked, an eat-shit smile spreading across his face. Christabel eyed him curiously. Apparently Albus had honored my wishes and hadn't told her about how I was proposing to Rose. If Christabel knew about it, surely she'd let it slip to Rose or Dominique that I was proposing. The friendship that had sprung up between the three of them would always be a mystery to me.

"The big day?" Christabel asked, taking a seat at the dining table that was crammed into the kitchen of mine and Albus's shitty flat. "What big day? Are finally going to clean up this dump?" Apparently, I wasn't the only one who thought that my flat was the epitome of disgusting. Albus rolled his eyes and sauntered into the kitchen after her. He leaned against the counter across from where I was, and grinned.

"I told you I wouldn't tell her, mate," he said. "Don't look so surprised."

"_What _didn't you tell me?" demanded Christabel.

"Well, you might as well have because now I'll have to tell her anyway," I said, irritated.

"Can you two stop talking as if I wasn't here-"

"I'm going to ask Ron if I can marry Rose," I blurted out, just so I wouldn't have to hear her annoying voice anymore. Christabel gaped at me. Odd. I expected a ton of squealing and _oh-my-gawd_'s. "So…" I continued awkwardly, "I sent Ron a letter last night saying to meet me at The Leaky Cauldron for lunch." Christabel continued to stare at me, openmouthed. "So… er… yeah."

"You're _what?_" Christabel exclaimed.

"Oh, dear Merlin…" Albus muttered, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"You can't ask her to marry you! She's going to think you're only doing it for the baby!" Christabel said loudly.

I raised my eyebrows, though I was unsurprised. I knew everyone and their mum would think that. But, as I had been thinking previously, that was only one small contributing factor for why I was doing it. "That's not the case," I said. "I'm not just doing it for the baby. I mean, of course, I think the baby should have married parents and all that fairy-tale bullshit, but I _love _Rose. So… Why not now?"

"Why not now? Are you _blind?_" Christabel demanded. "The poor girl is pregnant! She just found out, what, two weeks ago? She's at her emotional peak! She cries at the drop of a penny and can't stop to breathe from all of the 'How are you feeling?' questions from her relatives. You think popping the question right now is the best idea? Not to mention, Ron completely hates you. You got his baby girl pregnant. His _unmarried _baby girl, I might add. Not only that, but you had sex with her-"

"Well, Christabel, love, that's kind of how babies are formed, isn't it?" Albus asked gently.

"_Exactly!_" Christabel exploded. She covered her face with her hands. "Scorpius, for her sake, don't do this right now."

If I was some ignorant dipshit, I might listen to her. If I had no idea how Rose was, I would take Christabel's advice without a second thought. But I wasn't an ignorant dipshit and I definitely knew Rose better that Christabel did. I was going to ask her to marry me and I didn't care if Christabel thought it was a bad idea. "Sorry," I said shortly. "You don't have a say in it."

Christabel groaned. "Scorpius, it's like you don't have any feelings."

_Now _I gaped at her, my temper flaring. "_I _don't have any feelings? Pull your head out of ass, you dumb-"

"_Hey_," Albus intervened finally. "You both need to stop. Christabel, Scorpius knows what he's doing. And Scorpius… she's only trying to help." I stared at him incredulously, but he only shrugged and slumped down into the seat beside his girlfriend.

I took a deep breath and strode out the kitchen. There was no use in trying to argue with them.

I knew what I was doing was the right thing. I was completely confident in it. Even if Rose said no, I would at least leave there knowing I tried to do what I knew was completely right. The hard part would be getting Ron's approval. I didn't think he'd say no, but if he did I wasn't going to disrespect his wishes. If he said no, I wouldn't ask Rose. If I went ahead and did it anyway, it would make Ron hate me more than he already did.

Which was a lot.

…

I knew I probably sounded like a little bitch thinking this, but I was scared shitless as I sat there in the booth at The Leaky Cauldron, tapping my fingers against the table impatiently as I waited for Ron to finally make his appearance. _Just look at me know, Christabel, _I thought grudgingly. _Am I feeling anything now? _That dumb bitch. I didn't feel anything my ass. _She _wasn't around during my sixth year at Hogwarts. She wasn't around during my first year of training. If anyone could feel anything, it was me. Fuck, she should _know _that. She and Albus were the first to see me after Rose told me she pregnant. I remembered the night as clearly as I remembered my father's death - _not _that Rose getting pregnant was as devastating to me as my father's death was. It was odd, actually, the conversation I had just had with Christabel and Albus. I had just finished making fun of them for how much sex they had… I had told Christabel to go buy a pregnancy test…

"_You know," I said, rudely slurping up some microwave noodles from a Styrofoam cup. "You two should probably look into buying a few pregnancy tests to keep around or something. I mean, with how much sex you two have, I'd think that eventually you'd land yourself into an unsightly situation." _

_Christabel rolled her eyes at me from across the dining room table, where she and Albus sat, their fingers intertwined and their hair mussed from the quickie they had just had in the bathroom. Sometimes it was disgusting to me that Albus felt comfortable enough to have sex _-loud_ sex _-_ while I was in just the other room. "We have it under control," Christabel said, sticking her tongue out at me. _

"_I'm sure you think you do," I said, eating the last of the noodles and tossing the cup across the room and into the garbage can. "Just wait until there's a little baby Albus running around. Then you'll realize you didn't have it under control." _

_Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. "Did you invite anyone over?" I asked Albus and Christabel. _

_The two of them shook their heads and I shrugged, heading over to the door. I mentally cringed when I stopped to pick up my wand off the coffee table before opening the door. I had no reason to feel as if I were in danger anymore. All of my enemies were gone. I had _no _reason to feel so paranoid still. _

_Once I got to the door, I looked out to peephole to see Rose standing there. She was looking at her feet, so I couldn't see her face clearly. I pulled the door open and nearly gaped when I saw her facial expression. She looked… not exactly devastated, but definitely not happy. Her eyes were red-rimmed and swollen, her nose tinted pink and her already-pouty lips jutted out as tears streamed down her face. I had seen her cry before, obviously, but I had never seen her cry _this _way. There was something odd in her eyes. Something I'd never seen before. _

"_What's wrong?" I asked immediately, instantly fearing that Alex was back and coming to kill us all. _

"_I need to talk to you," she said shakily. "I need to talk to you right now." _

"_Right. Okay," I said, ushering her inside. I waited for her to talk._

"_Alone," she said pointedly, glancing at Albus and Christabel who were staring wide-eyed at the two of us. Again, this was unusual. After all the shit my group of friends and I had gone through together, there was never really a time where we had to talk to each other alone about anything. _

_Nonetheless, I nodded and led her down the hallway and into my bedroom. I momentarily wondered if I should take her hand, but for some reason I felt like she didn't want to be touched. Once we were in my room, I closed and locked the door. Rose and I looked at each other for a long moment before the tears streaming down her face turned into straight sobs. Instantly, my arms were around her and I was pulling her to my bed and on to my lap. _Who died? _I wondered frantically. _Oh, Merlin, who died?

"_What's wrong?" I asked quietly, trying to keep the urgency out of my voice. "What's happened?" _

"_Scorpius," Rose hiccupped through her sobs. "I don't know how to tell you this. And I know you'll be mad. And I know that you'll need some time to think. Just please… promise me that you won't…" She stopped, her hands covering her face. _

"_What? Promise you that I won't what?" Now I was starting to get truly frightened. _

"_Scorpius," Rose said, pulling her hands away from her face. "I don't know how to tell you this." _

"_Tell me _what?_" I demanded, my voice now tinged with impatience. _Who had died? For the love of all that is holy, what happened?

"_Don't be mad, okay?" she asked softly. "Please. Please don't be mad."_

_I took a deep breath. "Rose, I don't know what you're saying. Did someone die?"_

_Rose suddenly giggled, her laughter revealing the hysteria she was feeling. "No. Nobody died." Her smile fell. "The complete opposite really." The opposite… the _opposite…

"_Rose, what are you saying?" I asked, realization slowly creeping over my mind. _

"_Don't be mad," she repeated._

"_I'm _not _going to be mad!" I said, probably a little too harshly than I should have. We were playing the games again. These trust games. She thought I would be made at her for this. When it _-_ if the thing I thought she was trying to say was the case _-_ was as much my fault as it was hers. _

"_See!" Rose said, pulling away from me, off my lap, and standing up. "You're getting mad and I haven't even told you!" _

"_I'm not mad!" I said, standing up as well. "Trust me, I'm not mad. Just tell me. Say it."_

"_Oh, Merlin…" Rose muttered, running her hands through her long hair. "I'm freaking out, Scorpius," she said. "I can't do this. You're going to… I don't know. You're not going to be happy. But… I need you to understand, okay?"_

"_Understand _what?_" I demanded. "What is it that you need me to understand?"_

"_I can't say it without crying so you have to be very patient_-_"_

"_I don't even know what you're talking about_-_"_

"_Please, just understand that_-_"_

"_Just fucking tell me!"_

"_I'm pregnant!" she yelled, shutting me up completely. _

_Oh, shit. Oh. Shit. Pregnant. Like, with child. My child. My spawn. My baby. Another Malfoy. _

_First, I was filled with a horrible dread. I was only twenty-one years old. Only twenty-one. I was so young, I still had so much to learn. I was still in auror training for fuck's sake! I didn't even have a stable job! Of course, as a Malfoy, I had enough money… but that wasn't the point. I was so young. Rose was so young. Her family would think we were… Fuck, it didn't matter what they thought. They would hate me for impregnating their dear, sweet Rose. I would be dead the minute the words left her mouth. _

_Then, I was filled with an undeniable joy. Another Malfoy. I wouldn't be the last Malfoy anymore. I'd have an heir, and yeah, the kid would be the first half-blood in the Malfoy line, but that blood heritage shit didn't matter to me. I couldn't help but picture holding a baby _-_ boy or girl, it didn't matter _-_ and knowing that it had my blood. I _finally _shared blood with someone again. I wouldn't be completely alone when it came to blood relatives. _

_Though the joy overpowered the dread, the only word that came out of my mouth was, "Fuck." _

_Rose's tear-filled eyes overflowed as she began to cry again. Then I felt like an asshole._

"_No, no, no," I said, closing the distance between us in two long strides. I wrapped my arms around her waist. "Sorry, sorry… I'm such a fucking prick. Don't cry. Please. Don't cry." Here I was, begging my girlfriend not to cry, when I could feel my throat closing up as well. _Emotional piece of shit, _I thought to myself. _Pull yourself together.

"_I'm so sorry, Scorpius," Rose said quietly, her body limp in my arms. "I'm sorry."_

"_Why are you apologizing?" I asked, pulling away so I could look at her. "I mean, shit, it's not _that _bad. Remember in our sixth year when they started that pregnancy rumor about you? Think about if it _had _been true. You pregnant, at sixteen. That would be bad. This is… complicated. But not bad. We can make it work, I promise. _I'll _make it work. I won't let you down." I didn't know why I felt like I needed her to know that so bad. Probably because of how scared she was to tell me. I needed her to know that I was okay with this, even if it was complicated and unexpected, we could figure out how to make it work. _

"_It's not that I don't think we can make it work," Rose said, wiping her eyes. "It's just… I didn't think you ever wanted to have any children." She bit her lip and dropped her eyes from mine. "I suppose I shouldn't have made that assumption, but I couldn't help it." _

_I didn't bother letting her know that she was, in fact, partially correct. Before Alex was gone, I had thought I'd been in for a lifetime of _him. _Always worrying, always feeling like he was watching. I wouldn't dare to bring a child into that world. But after he was gone, thoughts of my future offspring had vanished. Until now. And now, I couldn't say that I wanted a child. There was still so much shock _-_ she had only told me minutes before, for Merlin's sake. But, from the moment I had felt that joy, that hope, of not being the only blood Malfoy left, I was clinging to the thought of having a son or daughter like my life depended on it. The child being mine and Rose's made it all the more better._

_Like I said, it would be complicated. But mine and Rose's relationship had never been anything but complicated. We would deal with it, just as we had dealt with everything else. _

"_Rose," I said quietly, lacing my fingers with one hand through hers, and trailing my fingers of my other hand down her cheek. "Oh, Rose…" I grinned at her, and my heart flew at the small smile I got in return. "Let's get one thing straight, okay?"_

_She nodded._

"_You have to know that me never wanting to have _any_ children is a lot different than having _your_ children. I'm not going to leave you, I hope you know that much. I'll be there from now, to when the kid is born, to when it's having kids of its own. And after that, too, obviously." _

_She kissed me. Her hands slipped into my hair and she stood on her tiptoes so she could kiss me better. I wound my arms around her waist once more, glad that she wasn't crying anymore. We ended up on the bed, which eventually resulted in our clothes being on the ground. I didn't know how long we went at it for, but it was the best sex we'd had it awhile. And sex with Rose was _always _great, so this was fucking spectacular. But finally, the two of us were exhausted and ready to go to sleep._

_Right as Rose was pulling herself closer to me under the blankets, I glanced at the clock to see what time it was. One in the morning. Vaguely, I hoped that Rose and I made as much noise as Albus and Christabel usually did when they had sex just to see how uncomfortable it made them. _

"_Scorpius?" Rose whispered just as I was beginning to doze off._

"_Hmm?" was my response. _

"_Are you scared?" Her voice sounded very small._

_My arm around her waist tightened. "Scared of what?" I asked, opening my eyes so I could see her eyes reflecting the moonlight that was shining through my window. _

"_I don't know. The future. What if I'm a bad mum?"_

"_I don't think _you're _the one that we have to worry about being the bad parent." _

"_You'll be a great dad," Rose said without hesitation. When she spoke again, I heard a smile in your voice. "You know, I've only ever seen you spend time with Dora" _-_ Teddy and Victoire's daughter _-_ "I wonder what you'll be like with our baby. I know you'll be great, though, so don't worry." _

_I kissed her forehead. "We'll work together. Together we'll be great parents."_

_She was quiet then, though I knew she wasn't sleeping. But, I also knew that she was comforted. Now, the two of us could sleep and worry about the reality that waited for us in the morning. It would be hard, but in the end, I knew it would be worth it. I didn't know what it would be like being a father, but I would try my damnedest to be the best father I could be. If my kid was anything like me, he or she would see that I was trying and appriciate it, just as I did with my father. He may not have always been there, but at the end of the day he taught me what was right and wrong. I would be what my father was to me and more for my son or daughter. I would make my child proud. _

_Right as I was about fall asleep once more, Rose said quietly, "Scorpius?"_

"_Yes?" I answered._

"_I want it to be a girl." _

_I grinned and nuzzled my face into her hair. "Oh, yeah? Well, I want it to be a boy." _

"Are you just going to sit there and stare off into space or are you going to greet me?" Ron Weasley's voice cut into my thoughts. He stood at the table I was sitting at, his black auror robes intimidating me to no end. It was odd, back when I was sixteen, the last person to ever intimidate me would be Ron Weasley. Ron Weasley, like the rest of the Potter-Weasley-Lupin clan, had been a joke to me before then. But now, it was like I was facing down a fucking dragon.

I stood up hastily, offering my hand so he could shake it. He did. "Sorry, sir. Hello, sir. Er… do you want to sit down?" I gestured wildly to the booth across from the one I was sitting in. Ron raised his eyebrows at me and took his seat in the booth. I sat back down in mine and nearly knocked over my glass of water that I had ordered. I had briefly considered ordering firewhisky, but I figured that would not give me any positive points as the guy who knocked up his unmarried daughter.

"Do you want to order anything?" I asked, suddenly unsure of what to do with my hands. _Pull yourself together, _I thought. _Stop making an idiot out of yourself. _

"No," Ron said bluntly. "I can guess the reason why you asked me to meet you here, and I don't like it."

_Oh, fuck. _

I decided to go on as if he hadn't said anything. "Mr. Weasley… er… Sir, I need to ask your permission of something very important. It's more important than anything else in my entire world. I mean, she is. And you know, our baby is too."

Ron held up his hands as if I was going to throw some radioactive substance on him. "_My daughter's _and _your_ baby. The _two of you _put together into a baby. I don't want to talk about the fact that it's a mixture of the two of you. For Merlin's sake, spare me the images." He shuddered, flagging down a barmaid despite his earlier objection to ordering something. "Can you bring me a bottle of firewhisky, please? Thanks."

"Right…" I said once the barmaid was gone. "We don't have to talk about that. But, the other part is really important."

"I understand that," Ron said. "Being that you're a Malfoy, I can trust that you're going to trudge forward even if I tell you not to."

"Being that I'm a Malfoy, sir, I'm going to speak what I feel needs to be spoken."

Ron's face turned an odd shade of purple at my unintentionally rude response.

I continued speaking. "I'm aware, Mr. Weasley, that our last encounter wasn't at all… pleasant." _Not at all, _I thought, mentally cringing at the memory. Ron had thrown a tantrum - a really fucking unnecessary, but totally expected of him tantrum - when Rose and I had told him and Hermione that we were having a kid. He had shouted at Rose, and she had stormed out of the room, Hermione following hastily after her. I proceeded to shout across the table to Ron that he was pompous ass and needed to learn how to be a little more fucking sensitive under fragile circumstances.

I swallowed and continued when I didn't get a response from him, only an icy stare. "I'm also aware, sir, that I'm not exactly in your good graces. But, I would really appriciate it if you could just give me a few minutes of your time and _really _listen to what I have to say." I took a deep breath. "You're daughter is the greatest person I've ever met. She kind, and she's smart, and she's funny, and she's beautiful. I know that you already know this, and that you don't need me to tell you. I just want you to know that _I _know.

"I don't know why she feels the same way about me that I feel about her, and I'm sure you don't know why either. But she does, and she's having my child. I don't want you to think I'm asking you this only because of that reason. I'm asking you this because I love your daughter, and I've known for a long time that I've wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. I know that even though she doesn't act like it, you're approval is very important to her, so that's why I'm asking you right now if… If I can ask your daughter to marry me?"

Ron was quiet for a long time. A _very _long time. His face went from red to purple, then red again. But finally, it returned to his normal color, and Ron exhaled, long and slow. He met my eyes once more, and nodded. "You have my permission."

I didn't realize that _I _had been holding my breath also. I breathed out, my body seemed to slump in relief. "Thank you, sir," I said. "Thank you so much."

"This doesn't mean you have my approval," Ron said gruffly, standing up from the table. I stood up too, and picked up my coat from the booth. "This also doesn't mean that I think you're worthy of her."

"I know that, sir," I responded.

"_But,_" he said, as the two of us began walking toward the door of The Leaky Cauldron. "I do know that there is nobody else better for her than you. That Lysander kid is about as womanly as humanly possible, so I'm almost glad the two of them didn't end up together." _Me too, _I thought. "And I don't trust anybody but you to keep her safe… After everything you went through with the Andre Sherwood case."

I shook his hand. "Thank you," I said again. "I promise, I'll keep her safe if it means getting myself killed in the process."

"Good," Ron said. There was an incredibly awkward silence. "I suppose I'll see you the next time I see Rose, then."

"Right," I said, nodding, shaking his hand again. "Goodbye, Mr. Weasley."

The two of us turned and began walking in opposite directions. I turned back around when I heard Ron say, "Oh, Scorpius?"

"Yeah?" I asked, suddenly overcome with the irrational fear that he was going to start laughing in my face and tell me that he was joking and that I would never marry his daughter.

"If you haven't bought the ring yet, here's some advice. Buy her something nice. You're a Malfoy," he stated unnecessarily. "You have money. Don't hold back. She deserves nothing but the best."

"Yes, sir," I said, grinning. "And, I know."

**A/N:**

**There you go. Happy holidays. **

**Written,**

**Anonymous;)**


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